Okay, we know you probably cannot get the idea of Votes and Voting out of your head at the moment, particularly if you are based in the UK. But while this IS&T Vote does not involve some particularly convoluted agreement that will profoundly change your life, ticking your Pick of the Month favourite for March might make a poet’s day. So choose from the visual feasts that are Helen Pletts and Romit Berger’s ‘The plane tree entertains the circus of doves’ or Thomas Irvine’s ‘[Beard of Bees]’. Or go for the unnerving imagery of ‘Night Crawler’ by Anna Saunders, the heady atmosphere of Natalie Shaw’s ‘Night punting to standstill’ or the emotion of ‘A long-distance voice’ (Chin Li). Maybe it will be Geoffrey Heptonstall’s striking ‘The Mistress of Cawdor’ from Shakespeare Variations that captures your attention?
Take the time to go through the six fine poems below (or click on ‘Vote for your March 2019 Pick of the Month′ in the Categories list to your right on the screen).
Voting has now closed. The winner will be announced at 4pm on Saturday 13th April.
The winner each month will be sent a £10 book giftcard or, if preferred, a donation of the same amount will be made to a chosen charity. In the event of the winner being from outside the UK mainland, we will make every effort to provide a reasonable alternative. All shortlisted poetry Picks, provided they remain unpublished and meet other eligibility criteria, will be considered as IS&T submissions for the annual Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. (‘Frequency Violet’ by Kate Edwards was a Pick of the Month for November 2017 and was Highly Commended by the 2018 judges. It features in The Forward Book of Poetry 2019.)