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 gain in voters’ comments but there was also an ambiguity, a tinge of sadness ans it is for...
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...
by Kate Birch | May 13, 2026 | News, Picks of the Month
An artful description of the feeling by simultaneous belonging and separation of second-generation immigrant from their ancestral homeland That sense of simultaneous belonging and separation, of connection and longing was key to those who voted for this amazing poem....
by Kate Birch | Apr 12, 2026 | News, Picks of the Month
It captures the silence and stillness of childhood snow and all it can mask and hide beautifully It was a poem of two halves. Some voters were drawn to the joy of playing in the snow. It had a ‘vivid wintry feels’, it reminded them of their childhood, with...
by Kate Birch | Apr 11, 2026 | News
The Forward Prizes have given us the green light that our submissions have been successful and we are pleased to announce that poems by John Bartlett, Rachael Clyne and Mariam Saidan are our three nominations for the Prizes Best Single Poem award for 2026. Please join...
