Bloodlines by Sarah Wimbush (Seren, 2020) ‘Bloodlines’ won the Mslexia Poetry Pamphlet competition in 2020.  In 30 pages it introduces readers to the unreachable, enchanted world of Romany/traveller experience through travel, food, labour, exclusion, distinctive language and family.   The discrimination and distrust travellers face is deep-rooted and reflected in Wimbush’s characters, as in ‘Carroty Kate’ (p.9): Time was, Continue reading

Day 3 Sealey Challenge 2022 ‘A Blood Condition’  (Chatto & Windus, 2021) by Kayo Chingony. This constrained, restrained, brilliant poetry about devastations is written so carefully and deeply it feels like it should be carved into the earth as memorial, elegy, witness and protest.  Human emotion is held so firmly in its forms that the reader cannot Continue reading

‘Honey Monster’ (Broken Sleep Books, 2022) by Bobby Parker. This is Bobby Parker’s recent collection with Broken Sleep Books, mainly using prose or prose-poetry to explore issues of survival, recovery and suffering through his protagonist ‘Bobby’. His previous publishers include KFS Publications, Nine Arches, Offord Road Books and Secret Sleep Books.   ‘Honey Monster’ flies and burns Continue reading

‘Painting the Mersey in 17 Canvases’ (Hazel Press, 2022), Maria Isakova Bennett: Painterly aesthetics in poetry of place & origin. The Mersey is a constant presence in this beautifully produced 24-page pamphlet from Hazel Press.  The cover is gorgeously  illustrated by Jeff Fisher in stunning blues. ‘Painting the Mersey in 17 Canvases’ was launched on Continue reading