NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW
An independent small press poetry review
 NOT IN SO MANY WORDS Poems and Commentaries on Poems edited by Peter Sansom & Janet Fisher Smith/Doorstop Books Bank Street Arts 32-40 Bank Street Sheffield S1 2DS ISBN 1 902382 69 2 £7 visit the website of The Poetry Business        Web design by  This page last updated: 28th June 2008. |
NOT IN SO MANY WORDS | |
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This anthology gives poems written by twelve poets who were members of the first Poetry Business Writing School, set up in 2002 and featuring poets from the North of England. In the accompanying essays, each poet comments on the poen they wrote while on the course. It's most interesting to get the poets' own comments on their work and methods, rather than have discussion by third parties. In this respect, the book makes a good companion to Ruth Padel's excellent 52 WAYS OF LOOKING AT A POEM. A lot of the comments are provisional, with poets saying they will return to the poems at a later date to see what 2nd, 3rd or 500th thoughts may bring. It will be interesting to see if there are any follow-up anthologies, perhaps giving poets from other areas, or perhaps from other wings of the poetry scene — all these are fairly accessible and formal, no-one is writing concrete or L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry, for instance. A thought-provoking anthology that will be of interest to any poet. | ||
| reviewer: John Francis Haines. |