Are you afraid of poetry? In this issue The Reader explores why poetry seems to be many to be difficult, boring, bewildering. As contributors swap views and advice through the pages, in between poems by Les Murray and many new writers, readers will hopefully see a place for poetry in their everyday life.
Mike Hoy looks at the interaction between poetry and music:
Now when I write I hear other sounds… It’s easier to write what I feel rather than just from my head.Adam Piette returns in Learning Curve to explain the use of the caesura:
What is captured by the effortful caesura-shift is…an act of the travelling imagination.Andrea Ashworth reviews books by Susan J. Brison and Carolyn Slaughter:
Living to tell the tale is only one aspect of surviving trauma: the traumatised person must also ‘tell to live’.
ALSO: David Gervais on Geoffrey Hill, a reading of First World War poetry, a new essay by Alan Davis, reviews and recommendations of Melvyn Bragg, Denise Levertov, Graham Greene, The Reader’s Literary Agony Aunt tackles pleasure and merit in reading.
Editorial
Living with poetry: A look at poetry and its purpose – shaking the mind awake
New Poetry
Les Murray
Pamela Coren
Mairi MacInnes
Peter Robinson
Julie-ann Rowell
Gill Gregory
Simon Pettifar
Nancy Gandhi
Martyn Halsall
Ian Parks
Sasha Dugdale
New Fiction
Lucas Dawson – The Oar
Ralph Goldswain – Graffiti for the Soul
New Essays
Alan Davis – Two books and a picture: a reader’s reading of a painting
Roselle Angwin – What I want from a poem: a personal response
Matt Simpson – Love’s preferred country: on Norman Nicholson
Steve Palmer – on Denise Levertov
Learning Curve
Mike Hoy – Towards the Condition of Music: on an interaction of poetry and music
Adam Piette – The Practice of Poetry: The Cesura and Kathleen Jamie’s ‘Rooms’
Angela Macmillan – The Untold Truth: 1st World War Poetry – based on talk for the Readers’ Day for Schools 2002
Literary Problems – on pleasure and guilt in reading
Reviews
David Gervais – A New Direction: essay-review on Geoffrey Hill
Andrea Ashworth – Life-loving Spirits: Susan J. Brison and Carolyn Slaughter
Peter Robinson – Clearances: a memoir: Mairi MacInnes
Kate Keogan – The Chine: Mimi Khalvati
Steve Newman – The End of my Tether: Neil Astley
Angela Topping – Getting There: Matt Simpson
Stanley Middleton – Their Tomorrow: on Melvyn Bragg
Recommendations
Mary Weston – The Quiet American: Graham Greene
David Green – Collected Stories: Richard Yates
Robin Brown – Memoirs: Kingsley Amis
Reading Lives
Susan Walker – on a Sheffield reading group: Books in the Bath
Margaret Andow – Meet the Reader: The Importance of Books in my Life
The Back End
The Reader Day (May 31, 2002)
Contributors
Crossword
Buck’s Quiz
Spotter’s Guide