In Presiding Spirits we ask a contemporary poet to write a poem which draws on writing from the past. In this issue W N Herbert responds to Byron’s Childe Harold. Errant My voice went on a quest to find itself…
Kathryn Simmonds on naming your poem. Finding the right title for a poem can feel like trying to solve a particularly painful crossword clue, but once you’ve hit on the solution, sometimes after dozens of false starts, the answer seems…
Magma 69, The Deaf Issue Poem in BSL and English by Alison Smith Performed, Voice Over by Alison Smith A film by Sandra Alland and Ania Urbanowska British Sign Language interpreting and translation consultation by Lisa Li ACCESS: Voice-over of…
I say to the man at the desk I’d like to see my original birth certificate Do you have any idea what your name was? Close, close he laughs. Well what was it? So slow as torture he discloses bit…
In Presiding Spirits we ask a contemporary poet to write a poem which draws on writing from the past. In this issue Vicki Feaver responds to Edward Thomas’s Old Man. Old Man Old Man, or Lads-Love, – in the name…
Do new technologies and multimedia forms affect how we exercise our imaginations when writing and reading poetry? Tim Kindberg delved into this aspect of the soul and the machine by asking some well-known poets for their views. A poem is…
The margins are where the clues to the liveliness and breadth of the text make themselves apparent. Rowdy animals bodied like musical instruments gambol, exact and glorious and gross. They make fanciful noise. Tiny plants spread like gorgeous weeds, rendered…
“You forget parties” Much Possessed John Foggin (Smith / Doorstop, £9.95) Reviewed by Helena Nelson Much Possessed is packed with people. Nearly a quarter of the poems are dramatic monologues from characters as various as Lucifer, Richard III, Myra Hindley,…
We asked three younger poets and four small publishers to think about the gambles they’ve taken in their careers thus far. The question we asked was, very simply, “What’s the biggest risk you’ve taken as a poet/publisher?”, but the answers…
Magma 67, extra review, Claire Crowther Reviews Jeffery Wainwright’s What Must Happen, Carcanet Press, £9.99 What Must Happen Jeffrey Wainwright Carcanet What Must Happen is not as positive as it sounds: things and people go nowhere or break up or…
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