by Kate Birch | Aug 12, 2026 | Reviews
Maybe it is happiness / mistranslated. This book quietly rearranged what I thought poetry was for. What I initially mistook for simplicity in Sluman’s clear and rhythmic verse I later realised was an embodiment of endurance. Pain Songs (Nine Arches Press) is a...
by Kate Birch | Jul 16, 2026 | News, Picks of the Month
Something wholesome and devastating about this poem. It stayed with me – it grew inside me. It has a classic feel to it. The word beautiful was written over and over again in voters’ comments but there was also an ambiguity, a tinge of sadness and it is...
by Kate Birch | Jul 6, 2026 | Reviews
A poem by Graeme Ryan Artwork by Georgina King This is such a generous book – the very first things the reader notices are its large square size, and its glowing colours. There is a palpable sense of successful collaboration between poet and artist going on here. The...
by Kate Birch | Jul 1, 2026 | News
selection from Babysham (if read aloud, do so in a gentle, quiet voice of a girl who is still afraid of the dark) On loving You are concerned with being a monolith. With being a museum. Poster board, boy chested, nailed to a crucifix by water lilies....
by Kate Birch | Jun 14, 2026 | News, Picks of the Month
The mixture of love, longing, nostalgia and its undercurrent of exasperation perfectly sums up the emotions involved in dealing with the loss and attendant tasks and duties when our parents die. Losing a parent can be an overwhelming and complex process. The initial...
