In her poem 'Dark Looks', Riley says "So, take me or leave me ... or don't flick and skim to the foot of the page and then get up to go -" - which is precisely what I did do. After all, most of the time I had pretty much no idea what was going … Continue reading “Selected Poems” – Denise Riley
Category: Blog
“Black Car Burning”
Helen Mort's "Black Car Burning" is, quite simply, a remarkable book. Rarely do you come across a novel that is so rooted in place. The work of Joyce, Forster's "A Passage to India"... Sheffield permeates "Black Car Burning". It is a character in it's own right - quite literally. And it seeps into every page. … Continue reading “Black Car Burning”
Speed-dating
OK. Let's get a couple of things clear up front... This post isn't about speed-datingActually I've never had any experience of speed-dating, so if you hear anything to the contrary they are just vile rumours So, speed-dating. The 'topic' - or at least the title of the topic - comes from a recent post of … Continue reading Speed-dating
“e.e.cummings: selected poems 1923-1958”
There can be few writers more generally inaccessible than e.e.cummings. By breaking so many conventions - both in the language and structure of poetry - perhaps the primary thing cummings' achieved was to release the traditional shackles and taboos which may have been constraining poetry in the first part of the twentieth century. You could … Continue reading “e.e.cummings: selected poems 1923-1958”
“The Collected Poems: Robert Frost”
Forgive me, but to my mind Robert Frost is no great time-traveller, his verse is stylistically too anchored in the past. I find it amazing that some of this vast collection was actually written in the Sixties, especially when you think about what had been going on in poetry (and literature in general) since the … Continue reading “The Collected Poems: Robert Frost”
“Grand Union”
There is a tremendous degree of variety in Zadie Smith's short story collection, "Grand Union". Variations in style, theme, tempo. There is also (for me at least) considerable variation in terms of what one might euphemistically - and dangerously! - bracket as 'accessibility'. Some of the writing is breathtaking; some less so. A number of … Continue reading “Grand Union”
“Lanny”
If you're the kind of person who flicks through a few pages of a book before you decide to buy it, then you might be put off by Max Porter's "Lanny". The way one of the character's contributions are printed is, shall we say, a little 'esoteric'; the font is variable, and the words bend … Continue reading “Lanny”
“The Nickel Boys”
Simply stunning. Having read "The Underground Railroad", I confess to being a little reticent about deciding to read Colson Whitehead's "The Nickel Boys". I wasn't sure that it would be quite 'me'. Perhaps I was nervous that - as a white, middle class Brit - the book wouldn't resonate with me, that I'd fail to … Continue reading “The Nickel Boys”
So maybe poetry isn’t about the language any more…
Yesterday evening I, along with at least a couple of hundred others, sat in on the Zoom launch of the Autumn 2020 edition of The Poetry Society's quarterly tome, the Poetry Review. For some time now there has been a consistent refrain among members of the poetry groups to which I belong that an unreasonable … Continue reading So maybe poetry isn’t about the language any more…
Why as an author you shouldn’t use a Goodreads’ ‘Giveaway’…
As a member of Goodreads.com - and therefore a "Goodreads author" - I have indulged in their 'Giveaway' scheme twice now. The premise is simple: you fund 100 copies of your e-book and Goodreads runs a lottery on your behalf where members can apply for a copy which, if they are selected at random, they … Continue reading Why as an author you shouldn’t use a Goodreads’ ‘Giveaway’…
Ian Gouge - Writer 