Poetry review – AFTER A SHORT ILLNESS: Sarah Leavesley admires John Whitehouse’s account of losing language as a result of a stroke – and then recovering it in new forms
books
Poetry review – PEDESTRIAN IN THE MULTIVERSE: John Snelling appreciates both the poetic craft and the range of subject matter in Claire Booker’s new collection
Poetry review – MILK WOOD MEMOIR: Michael Bartholomew-Biggs is charmed by Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch’s poetic exploration of the lives and times of real and imagined inhabitants of a Welsh coastal town
Poetry review – GREY TIME: Paul McDonald follows Julia Webb through a collection which explores the many aspects of loss
Poetry review – MIGRATIONS: Stuart Henson commends Dominic Fisher’s fluent and effective use of language
Fatal Monsters. Review by Barbara Lewis. Cleopatra VII was not just the Egyptian queen and legendary lover of Mark Antony, immortalised by Shakespeare, she represented the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty that endured from 305 BCE to around 40 BCE.
Poetry review – AGAINST FALLING: John Forth follows Linda Anderson through an exploration of the birth, life and afterlife of poems
Poetry review – FAMILY MATTERS: Rosie Johnston surveys a third volume of poems from members of the ‘Dark Angels’ writing group, compiled by its founder, John Simmons
Poetry review – WIDDERSHINS: Merryn Williams finds an authentic mixing of sadness and hope in a new collection by Kathryn Daszkiewicz
Poetry review –THE HUMAN CORE: Charles Rammelkamp finds a convincing account of human motivations in this lively collection by Wade Stevenson
Poetry review – HATCHERY: Pat Edwards admires the honesty and tenderness as well as poetic craft in Elizabeth Osmond’s account of work in a maternity ward
Poetry review – NEW & COLLECTED POEMS: Ian Pople looks back over Jeffrey Wainwright’s poetic career as summed up in this major retrospective volume
By Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • added recently on London Grip, authors, books, poetry reviews, year 2026 • Tags: authors, books, Ian Pople, poetry