my thoughts on… the love song of J. Alfred Prufock

'the model poet of our time, the most cited poet and incarnation of literary correctness in the English-speaking world' -Alfred Kazin on T.S. Eliot https://youtu.be/xpRSmMnx1MU This is the outstanding, bewildering poem that introduced me to perplexing world of modernism and the cryptic poems written during the period. It is quite difficult to believe but this…

my thoughts on… bloodaxe’s contemporary women poets (1985)

"I am a poet who is a woman, not a woman poet" -Ruth Fainlight I recently discovered the absolute gem of a book that is 'The Bloodaxe Book of Contemporary Women Poets: Eleven British Writers', edited by the extraordinary Jeni Couzyn, in my school library. It was practically dusty on the shelf in the poetry…

why I read poetry

When Elizabeth Jennings explained how she felt that 'a deeply held belief is bound to influence all you do', she summarised my feelings towards the wonder of poetry. When I read a poem, it is not simply a collection of words on a page. Instead, I am gaining a glimpse of a new, original perspective…