Two pieces for the cover of the Resonance Poetry Anthology 2024, 'Kūfiyyah' and 'Matchstick'.

‘Kūfiyyah’ (front) is named for the traditional Palestinian scarf pattern widely known as a symbol of liberation and solidarity. As a poet myself, this piece is a celebration of poetry’s role in abolition, in cutting the chain, making holes in the world, breaking apart language, dismantling the systems that keep us from our collective liberation. It’s also about negative space, one of the key things that makes poems, well, poems: the shape of words on the page, and the importance of their relationship to the blank page and the things that are left unsaid – because there are always things we can’t find the words to say, and the words are where we attempt to bridge the gap. 

And as always, at the centre, a circle: the endless returning of everything to itself. that carries across to ‘Matchstick’, named for the late great Matchstick Piehouse, the place where Resonance grew into what it is today. Back in January I was thinking about what I wanted from these works and I wrote a little note (a poem?) to capture a fleeting idea: hands hold / hands hold / hands hold. That became a piece that is at it’s core about how we’ve held each other: held space, held a lighter, held vigils, held hands. One hand being pulled into the circle from outside was just an attempt to say you’re always welcome at Resonance. We’ve had so many first-time readers who have come back and grown into truly phenomenal poets. Long may it continue.

🌿 Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry edited by Camille T. Dungy

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

“Black Nature” is the first anthology to focus on nature writing by African American poets. Camille T. Dungy has selected 180 poems from 93 poets that provide unique perspectives on American social and literary history to broaden our concept of nature poetry and African American poetics.

A truly reflective collection of poetry that embraces the beauty, the struggle, and the complicated history of nature and the African American people. With sections titled “Nature, Be With Us” to “Forsaken of the Earth”, this should be on every poetry lovers shelf. These poems have such a powerful impact on how nature is viewed from a non-white lens and they made me consider a type of nature I hadn’t considered before.

Side note: My 3 favorite poems were “The Haunted Oak” by Paul Laurence Dunbar; “the earth is a living thing” by Lucille Clifton; and “Miscarriage in October with Ladybugs” by Amber Flora Thomas.

Tiny poetry illustrations.

My latest gig was illustrating an upcoming SF poetry anthology for a publisher (one of the reasons I haven't been writing my fanfic. They're not my poems, but those by several famous SF writers).

Typically, illustrations are made large and then digitally manipulated to fit the space on the page. But for some reason the publisher wanted me to make the originals of the illustrations teeny tiny.

I work in pencil, then ink with a crow quill nib and pen. One of these:

I can't tell you the name of the anthology (because it credits my real name), or the poems that the illustrations are for (because posting them online constitutes "publishing"), but I can share a few of the illustrations. The scans are only slightly smaller than the originals.

Book Review - 100 Poets: A Little Anthology by John Carey

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc! I apologise for taking so long to review this title.

I'm one of those people who hated poetry in school because we were forced to recite poems by heart or analyse them for weeks without end in sight. Now, as an adult, I've fallen in love with poetry and spent the last years catching up on reading it and even starting to translate it.

I have mixed feelings about this anthology.

I discovered some new poems or poets or re-read some familiar favourites. I really enjoyed the short but informative insights into biographies, meaning and vocabulary (mostly for the Middle English poems). I also deeply appreciate that translators were mentioned whenever applicable. Translators are way too often invisible. Some of the picks were interesting: sometimes Carey picked exactly the poem I wanted to revisit, sometimes he picked a more unknown poem for a well-known poet or provided multiple short poems/extracts or further recommendations.

On the other hand, I feel like this anthology did not offer anything new. The author was upfront about mostly focusing on anglophone poetry and I assume that is his area of expertise, but it felt very similar to a lot of other anthologies I've read. A handful of ancient poets, two Germans, one Persian, otherwise English, American and one or two Irish or Australian. I think the author should have either committed to focusing on 100 anglophone poets or included just a few more international voices (a handful would have been enough).

Also, I understand Ezra Pound is still quite popular to read and study, but there was no mention of his fascism (while for other authors the biography was more careful to at least point out certain beliefs or themes). I'd have preferred to either not mention him at all (and instead feature a non-anglophone poet) or at least included one sentence to point out the scandal surrounding him (which had been quite a big deal at the time).

if ‘climbing my grandfather’ is the poem on the english lit exam, i am walking out

NEW POETRY ANTHOLOGY WITH ALL PROCEEDS GOING TO CARE FOR GAZA

It's a match made in heaven.

Seth Bookmark by @crossroadart-seabear

Guess who learned all their poems and their Shakespeare play the night before the exam

I saw supernatural and I laughed

@definegodliness said, in regards to maybes on across vast horizons III:

I think that covers it all. Maybe the links to avh and avh2 haha, so people can get an idea

a good idea! take a look at all* of my self-published work over here.

( *: all but this one. )

english lit gcse tips!!

for poetry anthology use genius lyrics!! then remember 2/3 quotes and analysis from each poem

(also for poetry harder poems like tissue wont be used as its an open tier paper)

physics and maths tutor is your new best friend!! theres so much info which can be super overwhelming but theres loads of things on there that your teachers haven't thought of

i created paragraph plans (8-10 per book) using physics and maths tutor which, when in an exam, you just pick out the paragraphs that fit the question. remember its super easy to link things to eachother!!! if a question is on macbeths ambition you can link it to other (possibly more revised) themes like witchcraft etc

— ‘the first of all worlds,’ eliza aster | in ‘vanish in poetry’ ☽

Love love love this poetry anthology

It’s brought me so much peace

🦃 Poems About Birds edited by H.J. Massingham

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

This anthology of poems captures the vibrant lives of birds through the eyes of poets from the Middle Ages to the 20th-Century.

The editor writes in the introduction that the criticism of anthologies not being big enough or not including enough often comes down to the fact that anthologies are meant to give you a taste of a common theme so you might look for more. This holds especially true for this volume as I feel like it focuses heavily on a few poets and doesn’t have a lot of diversity in the authorship.

I enjoyed each poem and had fun picking favorites from each era of writing. From the Middle Ages to the Restoration my favorite was “Philip my Sparrow” by Anon. From the Restoration to the Nineteenth Century my favorite was “The Robin in Winter” by William Cowper. From the Nineteenth to the Twentieth Century my favorite was obviously “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe. And my Twentieth Century Favorite was “The Return of the Goldfinches” by Sylvia Lynd.

Now don’t get me wrong, this is a great introduction to bird poems but if you’re looking for a more in depth collection, I’d recommend the Everyman’s Library “On Wings of Song”.

OUT NOW!

'No Love Wasted' is now available to order. Visit my website to purchase your own copy today!

a letter to the first owner

I just love buying used books, but especially I love my pre-loved literature anthologies. I have a little friend in my corner, leaving notes and underlining passages that they thought were so important, and now I, too, think it's important.

I'll never know your name, but whenever I'm having a hard time on a particularly nuanced poem your insight helps me through. You're so smart. If I'm reading a passage you weren't assigned, I miss you and I'm sad that I won't get to share my discoveries with you like you shared yours with me. You're so far away.

I wish there was a return address on this treasure you gave me, I wish I could tell you how much it meant to me that you were there for me my sophomore year in college. You're so wonderful.

Here's something you found interesting:

"With an eye made quiet by the power // of harmony, and the deep power of joy, // we see into the life of things" -William Wordsworth, "Tintern Abbey"

The Writers Place of Kansas City has released Voices from the Writers Place, Volume 2, an audiobook of local poets. My poem, “Alligator Tooth,” is included. Many thanks to James Benger.