Poem of the week: Matsushima by Laurence Binyon
A sensual description of the natural beauties of the eponymous group of Japanese islands, this is also a vision of earthly paradiseMatsushimaO paradise of waters and of isles that gleam,Dark pines on...
View ArticleCelebrities read the poem 'What They Took With Them' to support refugees – video
Oscar winner Cate Blanchett leads a cast including Keira Knightley, Stanley Tucci, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jesse Eisenberg and Kit Harington in performing the in a film which UN refugee agency UNHCR released...
View ArticlePoet Rupi Kaur's Milk and Honey sells more than half a million copies
Instapoet’s originally self-published collection now into 16th printing after themes of violence, abuse and femininity gained her fans onlineThe “Instapoet” Rupi Kaur’s originally self-published...
View ArticleIn the contest of memes, the Olympics takes the gold
Funny faces, astonishing athleticism and all-round doofus Ryan Lochte have made sure it’s been a month rich in retweetsWhile August is fondly known as the silly season, traditionally a quiet time in...
View ArticleBooks to give you hope: Landing Light by Don Paterson
This collection of heart-catching poetry offers something a novel never can – a world of pure potential, with no beginning or end• Why we’re writing about books to give you hope this summerAside from a...
View ArticleSay Something Back by Denise Riley review – exquisite, intimate, direct
Moving meditations on loss in an astonishing Forward prize-shortlisted collectionIn a world where poets argue endlessly over what makes the ideal poem, Denise Riley’s verse stands out immediately as...
View ArticleForward Prize 2016: The Felix Dennis prize for best first collection – roundup
Every Little Sound by Ruby Robinson, Tonguit by Harry Giles, Wife by Tiphanie Yanique, Disko Bay by Nancy Campbell, Distance by Ron CareyRuby Robinson’s Every Little Sound (Liverpool University, £9.99)...
View ArticleThe Saturday poem: My father cannot stop
by Lavinia GreenlawWhen his mind perceives itself failinglike an engine questioning its partseverything stopsand he sees what it will be like when everything stops.The problem is that nothing...
View ArticleOf mists, mellow fruitfulness, mortality and conkers
John Keats wrote his ode To Autumn nearly 200 years ago today – when Septembers were cooler, and the poet was near the end of his short lifeUndoubtedly one of the best-known first lines in English...
View ArticlePoem of the week: The Learn’d Astronomer by Michael Robbins
Recalling the intense passions of teenage years with seriousness worn lightly, this poem finds room for both the throwaway and the infiniteThe Learn’d AstronomerHow long must we hymn the twinkling...
View ArticleAn insider's guide to Hull: 'It's better than you think, honest …'
Kitsch street style, pattie butties and theatre in old fruit markets – Hull might not have a glowing reputation but it’s been inspiring poets for generationsBetter than you think, honest …Peter Porter...
View ArticleKeats was reconciled to his early death | Letters
Paul Brown (Weatherwatch, 19 September) is right that Keats must have been aware of his impending death, not witnessing the deaths of his mother and brother from tuberculosis, but nursing them in their...
View ArticleA polyphonic dawn chorus in the Essex edgelands
Caroline Bergvall’s Raga Dawn is a mash-up of English, Punjabi and Romansh, poetry, music and performance art. She explains why she’s opposing ‘isolationist pride’ on the spot where the Empire Windrush...
View ArticleTrinidadian poet Vahni Capildeo wins 2016 Forward prize for poetry
University of Glasgow professor takes £15,000 prize for Measures of Expatriation – the third Caribbean poet in a row to win the awardTrinidadian poet Vahni Capildeo has won the 2016 Forward prize for...
View Article40 Sonnets by Don Paterson review – playful poems from a master
Extraordinary, beautiful or funny – these poems from an expert in rhythm and rhyme stay with youA few days ago, I played a little trick on the internet, asking people to name and date a sonnet, whose...
View ArticleRobert Burns song performed as it originally sounded – video
According to the University of Glasgow, the Scottish poet’s songs were ‘tailored for the parlours of the middle classes’, and would have been performed in that setting on Baroque harpsichords, cellos...
View ArticleClaudia Rankine wins $625,000 MacArthur 'genius grant'
Poet, whose work has tackled the everyday racism faced by black Americans, plans to use the money to found a ‘Racial Imaginary Institute’Claudia Rankine, whose award-winning poetry collection Citizen...
View ArticleWhy Vahni Capildeo deserved to win the Forward prize
Forward prize founder, William Sieghart, applauds a fresh new voice in poetryThere is nothing accidental in a good poem. Those at the 25th Forward prizes on Tuesday could not ignore the hungry,...
View ArticleClive James: ‘The Australian sun reaches around the world to roast me on my...
Why did I ever leave? It must have had something with a desire to see the real world – even if it couldn’t be as good as thisThe recent hot weather here in Cambridge has sent me back in my memory to...
View ArticleThe Saturday poem: Chloe on the Jubilee
by Vahni Capildeo. From Measures of Expatriation, winner of the Forward prize for best collectionfor Shivanee RamlochanThe staring heterosexuals disembark,having stared, openly, having picked the...
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