Poems to Talk About: Warming Bees

In this year's Poems to Talk About there is beauty and whimsy aplenty; in 'Rain' (Kerry Darbishire) and 'What a Drag,' (Lisa Kelly) words seem to dance to their own meaning; in 'Stepping Stars' (Shelly Nutting) there is a lightness of touch; in 'On Viewing Monet's Waterlilies 1917-19' (Jenny Pollak) there is joy.

We see also an emerging modernity exemplified by 'Spring Drinks' (Alison Boyd) and 'Edinburgh Tattoo' (Shona Albouy).

Yet, all along, the spectrum is wide, from the gripping 'The Musician's Wife' (David Phillips) to the powerful and understated 'Kuzka's Mother' (Alexander Velky).

The two winning entries - 'The Garden of Eternal Spring' (John Keenan) and 'Nervosa' (Natalie Sorrell Charlesworth) - are both razor sharp with not a single superfluous word.

This is the third Poems to Talk About collection and it certainly raises the bar in terms of diversity and craft; it is the most richly poetic of the three collections to date.

Dettagli