by Kate Birch | Dec 8, 2024 | News, Picks of the Month
The random uneasy moments resolve into the bluntness of grief. Honest and real. The vote this time was oh so close, perhaps the closest it has been for some years. But in the end it was the beautiful, moving simplicity of Stephen Keeler’s ‘Something about...
by Kate Birch | Nov 17, 2024 | News, Picks of the Month
Her work beautifully expresses an unimaginable challenge. This poem inspired voters and it moved them. But many also noted how beautiful it was, how powerful and visceral and how it was able to give a sense of not only the emotional upheaval the poet experiences but...
by Kate Birch | Oct 19, 2024 | News, Picks of the Month
Excellent title, and it all comes together in those final lines. The smell of the aftershave that couldn’t be washed off… ‘The Last Person on Earth’ took hold of the IS&T Pick of the Month voters for September. The poem was ‘punchy powerful and...
by Kate Birch | Sep 17, 2024 | News, Picks of the Month
flowing beautiful lines of emotion Again and again, the word beautiful came up in comments along with ‘sublime’ ‘lovely’ ‘stunning’ and ‘gorgeous’. But voters also loved the geographic connection, the use of map dimensions and the mirroring in a poem that could seem...
by Kate Birch | Aug 18, 2024 | News, Picks of the Month
The poem speaks truth ‘When young boys go missing was a poem that so many voters, many of whom are based in Nigeria, found relatable and relevant, found it showed a ‘truth’ that many of us in the global north are just barely conscious of, and it is for these reasons...
by Kate Birch | Jul 21, 2024 | News, Picks of the Month
Beautiful interweaving of nature and human concerns The word ‘beautiful’ was repeated again and again in voters’ comments as this subtle, understated poem revealed the tragic death of a sister that lay at the heart of it, and it is for this reason and more that Robin...
