Kevin Crossley-Holland assumes the persona of Harald during his formative years in Byzantium and writes about his engagement with warfare
This suggests the versatility with which he remakes his own art
Poets from Lord Byron to John Berryman and from Emily Dickinson to Elizabeth Bishop are depicted in the throes of (often reluctant) exercise and their poetic styles satirised
‘The ecstatic language of Kathryn Simmonds’ poems moves shadow-cast creatures and sombre conditions into the sun until light radiates through and around them
winning the Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2013
God Forbid They Hear Us Laughing: New and Selected Poems by Bobby Parker Eric Selland Kevin Crossley-Holland assumes the personaGod Forbid They Hear Us Laughing by Bobby Parker is a savage, tender selection that holds fatherhood and addiction, love and shame, sex and violence in the same shaking hands. These poems move through council estates, underpasses, chip shops, pubs, pharmacies, church tents and school corridors with a voice that is brazenly funny and abruptly devastating, switching from punchline to prayer in a breath. Parker's work is stocked with the lived textures