It’s our first shortlist for 2019 and it is a good one. It almost feels as if all of human life teems here: the good, the bad and the very ugly – with escapes into the serene or a commonplace that is anything but common.
Will you rage with Alison Binney in ‘#WhyIDidntReportIt’ or be uneasily drawn to Alix Scott-Martin’s ‘Sisters’? Does Ian Heffernan, peering behind the scenes of ‘Hunters in the Snow’, compel? Maybe, you are intrigued by the everyday that becomes extraordinary in Sunil Sharma’s ‘Cages, urban, iron’ or ‘Off-Peak Single’ from Oz Hardwick? Or do you simply want to escape through a ‘Rhine Swim’ with Andrew Shields?
Do take the time to go through the six fine poems below (or click on ‘Vote for your January 2019 Pick of the Month′ in the Categories list to your right on the screen).
Voting has now closed. January’s ‘Pick’ will be posted at 4pm on Tuesday 19th February.
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 All shortlisted poetry Picks, provided they remain unpublished and meet other eligibility criteria, will be considered as IS&T submissions for the annual Forward Prize for Best Single Poem.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.)