- reviewed by Lettie McKie – (image courtesy of Stuart Leech) A hot-bed of thrilling spoken word … The Roundhouse is without a doubt one of the best performing arts venues in London. Not only does it have a diverse creative programme that includes some very exciting work with young people, it is also a…
-Reviewed by Afric McGlinchey- This unusual and beautiful book is the product of a collaboration between the poet, Chris McCabe, and Maria Vlotides, artist and medicinal herbalist. Initially conceived of as an art installation, the project has evolved into a book containing images of Vlotides’ notes on the herbs, as well as images, and…
– reviewed by Lettie McKie – 16th and 17th October, the Southbank Centre ‘A big warm hug of a show …’ Simon Mole’s latest project, in association with the Southbank Centre and Apples and Snakes is a veritable smorgasbord of poetical delights. Warmly welcoming us to the cosy surroundings of the Festival Village, Simon and…
-Reviewed by Angela Topping- Twelved Slanted Poems for Christmas is the very first publication by the popular webzine, Ink Sweat and Tears, who annually run a feature called The Twelve Days of Christmas, which include poems about the festive season which are a little bit darker than usual. Editor Helen Ivory’s own poems are often…
-Reviewed by Charles Whalley- “I’m a poet and I feel that the internet — comprised completely of text-based alphanumeric language — is the greatest poem ever written” - Kenneth Goldsmith “Who do you think is offering something new to poetry at the moment? Internet.” - Sam Riviere * Hi Guys! Keryn and I went swimming! The deepest…
-Reviewed by Billy Mills- Snowclone Detritus: Petrarch Sonnets 97 – 116, is the second instalment in an on-going Petrarch project from Norfolk-based poet, painter and publisher Peter Hughes. The first part, Quite Frankly: After Petrarch, Canzoniere 1-28, was published by Like This Press earlier this year and poems 1 – 21 from that set can…
-Reviewed by Rebecca Burns- Hannah Stevens’ Without Makeup and Other Stories is a slim pamphlet comprising six short stories. The stories themselves only take up sixteen pages; barely enough, you might think, for a reader to get to know the author and enter the heart of their fiction. Except, not in Stevens’ case; these very…
-Reviewed by Angela Topping- This small hand-stitched rectangular pamphlet is a delightful blending of design and poetry, which work together perfectly. I was not surprised to learn from Hymas’ blog that these poems were begun under the tutorship of David Morley and Deryn Rees-Jones, two poets I admire greatly. Not because Hymas writes like they do,…
-Reviewed by Eleanor Hemsley- Looking at the cover of Pelt and Other Stories I half-expected to read about women kicking men’s arses and winning in every confrontation. I expected to be reading about empowerment and equality across the globe, but instead I got something much better. I opened the book and found myself lost within…
-Reviewed by Jenna Clake- Boscombe Revolution is an anthology of twenty-one poems responding to ideas of ‘place’ and ‘revolution’. What this results in is an interesting array of poetry from writers across the globe – the poets hail from Athens, Milwaukee, San Francisco and Boscombe itself – who interpret ‘revolution’ as societal issues, science…
-Reviewed by Paul McMenemy- The first poem in any collection has a lot of work to do, introducing themes, images, a tone, which will be developed in the rest of the work. Often this burden can make it the least satisfying in a collection. And ‘Hare Window’, the opening poem of Rebecca Tamás’s collection,…
-Reviewed by Andie Berryman- The Liars’ League is a monthly spoken word event held in London and other UK locations (with a difference: contributions from writers are read out by actors). Regular readers of Sabotage may recall the two previous collections, Lovers’ Lies and London Lies and now we review the third book in the…
-Reviewed by Penny Boxall- Homecoming opens with a train wreck. The title poem is a deftly-handled slipping of language as the accident sinks in, the tone shifting from matter-of-fact to detached curiosity. In this, we’re quickly given reason to trust Carrie Etter’s voice; she takes the subtle risks of the surefooted (there’s a wonderfully clear…
-Reviewed by David Sheridan- Whew. Just let me sit down a second, catch my breath. Whew, okay, yeah. That was Mason Johnson’s Sad Robot Stories, a free PDF (donation if you’re feeling so inclined) published by the Chicago Centre for Literature and Photography, and absolutely nothing to do with any other sad stories featuring robots…
- reviewed by Irina Jauhiainen – As you may know, Hammer & Tongue is a national network of poetry slams that is committed to launching the careers of new poets. Poets compete in a series of regional slams, with the winners going on to the regional final and the winners of the regional final going…
