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...
by Kate Birch | Jun 8, 2024 | Picks of the Month
It stopped me in my tracks. I was there by the graveside full of emotion and discomfort and – now I feel disturbed but compassionate One voter’s words that very much summed up why Jenny Mitchell’s ‘What Part of Me?’ is the IS&T Pick...
by Kate Birch | May 15, 2024 | News, Picks of the Month
‘Deft, dark, brilliantly written’ This poem appealed on so many layers: A remembered experience of children’s parties, with either fondness or dismay. Childhood memories and an unsettling sense of being in limbo. A limbo that we all are unnerved by, a...
by Kate Birch | Apr 20, 2024 | News, Picks of the Month
This poem is pure enchantment. The captivating vocabulary intensely immersive imagery had the hairs on the back of my neck prickled from the outset. Voters loved the imagery, the descriptive power of this poem. They found it evocative, eerie, heart-wrenching. And for...
by Kate Birch | Mar 11, 2024 | News, Picks of the Month
Loss captured beautifully. This poem was absurd, gritty, weird, clever. It made people cry but had a humorous touch. Some felt it was about grief, some about getting old, others about being taken advantage of. And for all these reasons and more, ‘Burglaries’ by Darren...
by Kate Birch | Feb 18, 2024 | News, Picks of the Month
‘It is so spare – every word used to the max – beautiful, slow, confident, visceral words. I love it!’ Yes, voters loved the spareness of it but also the way it played with the senses, the imagery, the ‘the s-s-s sounds in the poem as if...
