‘Whistle if You Want To’ has a beautiful, heartbreaking sense of antiquity, is a hymn to an almost forgotten time with its ‘Frankie Lane’, ‘cheerio’ and ‘radio waves’. I loved this poem’s neatness and avoidance of sentimentality. It is the more affecting for that. The last three lines are so piquant with emotion. - Jane … Continue reading Whistle If You Want To by Grant Tabard
Month: February 2020
Two poems by Anathema McKenna
‘We Woke’ manages to contain much within its sparse waste-no-word form. There is the sharply distilled beauty in phases 'We turned to folk remedies,/colour theory, blue cloths' and ‘that melted ice goes somewhere,’ as well as the hissing alliteration which really does convey the seething anger of the poet. McKenna pulls no punches but still … Continue reading Two poems by Anathema McKenna
Question by Marg Roberts
Welcome to a series of weekly poems, selected by guest editor Jane Burn on the theme of Trauma. We start with Question by Marg Roberts. Jane says ‘Question’ is a snapshot into a surreal world. It has an uncomfortable air of other-worldly un-belonging, a suffocating sense of displacement. It speaks of a fate that so … Continue reading Question by Marg Roberts
Celebrating Change 