by Kate Birch | Sep 4, 2022 | News, Picks of the Month
Climber and volcano – the fusion of imagery. Power of grit and determination. You know when a work of art or literature takes you to another place, to the limits? Well Camille McCawley’s ‘Maungawhau’ does just that and it is for this reason that this...
by Kate Birch | Aug 17, 2022 | News, Picks of the Month
Family. Food. Heritage. Continuity. Love A comment that says it all and, after a closely fought contest, was almost certainly the reason that Lalah-Simone Springer pipped her rivals at the post with her poem ‘Dasheen’ becoming the Pick of the Month for July 2022....
by Kate Birch | Jul 4, 2022 | News, Picks of the Month
You as voters could not call it and, on reflection, neither could we, so for the first time since when we began our Picks of the Month in 2013, we have joint winners, a poem and a work of micro fiction both spare, both powerful. But while Sanah Ahsan’s ‘fresher’ is...
by Kate Birch | Jun 13, 2022 | News, Picks of the Month
Creative thinking outside the box …describes perfectly the effect that Topher Allen’s ‘The Gods Are Addicts’ had on voters and it is for this reason, as well as the poet’s voice, his perspective, ‘fiery imagery and subversion of religious tropes’, that it...
by Kate Birch | May 9, 2022 | News, Picks of the Month
The poem is so inspiring and makes me feel empowered As another voter put it: ‘This poem takes you by surprise…’ The title points you in one direction and then you follow it through to a completely different destination. It is for this reason, then,...
by Kate Birch | Apr 14, 2022 | News, Picks of the Month
It is spare, subtle and profound. These words that really do sum up Hiram Larew’s superb poem ‘Hardly’ and are an illustration of why it has been voted as the Pick of the Month for March 2022. Voters read his poem again and again to gauge the meaning behind his subtle...
