POETRY IN BRIEF

Those Daily Trumpet Books Pages reviews in full:

Will Thesedo finds joy and trauma in three astoundingly paperbacky recent collections

Since Harry Flump's last book, he has written one other book and this (Thoughts, Cape £8) is it. This thoughtful volume by the Northern poet could be described as thoughtful, or perhaps, at a stretch, Flumpian. Its subjects include death, love and the death of love. This reviewer found it similar to his last collection, almost to the point where it could be said to be influenced by the work of Harry Flump. One to watch.

Frances Sponge's debut Pretty Little Fishkins (Bloodaxe $8.47), a first collection, is, tantalisingly, her first book of poetry. Her work could be described as visceral, or, at times almost, calm. It is credible, almost to the point of viable in today's society, though its nature poems lack an urban edge. At 80 pages it is a long collection, though not as long as it would be, were it, say, 112 pages.

The overdue Nodding Sagely, the Selected Poems of Conor Beardaigh (Shamrock e8.99) has been a long time coming, and can be described as long awaited, especially by those of us who enjoy the work of Irishmen with beards, or even other facial hair. It can be described as neither good nor bad, for it is both, especially when the bleakly urban poems show a gritty lack of agrestic nuance.

(Will Thesedo will be reading from his recent pamphlet collection The Realm of Raw Flesh at Ottakar's, Nantwich, last Thursday; The Daily Trumpet will review more poetry collections in around two years' time, though if any poet dies, or writes a novel, we will publish a large picture of them, perhaps even in a bikini if it's a bit of posh totty like Lucinda Buckle)