Letters From The Underworld, by Alan Baker

I enjoyed reading DA Prince's review of Alan Baker's Letters From The Underworld here at Sphinx. He's a poet who deserves much more attention, in my opinion, ploughing a very distinctive furrow of his own.

You can buy the book here, at The Red Ceilings Press website.

New at Sphinx

Sphinx, HappenStance Press's website that reviews pamphlets and chapbooks, as well as gathering together information about poetry pamphlet publishing, has some new reviews, including this one of Sally Evans' The Bees of Dunblane & The Song of the Walnut Tree.

There's a really substantial archive of older reviews, too – enjoy browsing through them (and of course, if it inspires you to buy a pamphlet or two, so much the better).

All change at Sphinx

Sphinx, Happenstance Press's online poetry pamphlet 'zine, has got a new look, and a new purpose in life, too, by the looks of it.

The pamphlet reviews have gone sadly, although there are certainly more journals and magazines reviewing them now than when Sphinx started, something for which it can claim some of the credit. It's now blossoming into a much more wide-ranging poetry pamphlet mag, including features, interviews, news and resources for poets and publishers alike. I recommend it highly.

New reviews at Sphinx

A new batch of reviews have been posted at Sphinx, with more to follow over the coming days. Here's my look at Brad Johnson's The Dichotomy Paradox, which I can heartily recommend, and as always with Sphinx, there are alternative reviews from Helen Evans and Matthew Stewart too.

New at Sphinx

There's a fresh batch of pamphlet reviews up at Sphinx - as always, each chapbook is reviewed separately by three people, which makes for some interestingly varied takes on the same subject. My own reviews were of Ian Seed's Threadbare Fables, and Gregory Woods' Very Soon I Shall Know, both of which I enjoyed a lot.

Is there a point to reviewing poetry?

Interesting blog post here, by Helena Nelson, about poetry reviews. Given poetry's current low profile, both in society as a whole and the arts world, I find it hard not to subscribe to the "any publicity is good publicity" school of thought. But I also enjoy reading reviews as pieces of writing in themselves, and as Nell says, reviewing is a skill that could do with some nurturing.

Interesting, too, that she gets far fewer female than male volunteers to review for Sphinx - drop Nell a line at nell@happenstancepress.com if you'd like to try to redress that imbalance.

Introducing Lizzy Dening...

I previously knew Nasty Little Press solely through having reviewed one of their chapbooks - Martin Figura's Boring The Arse Off Young People - for Sphinx. But they also publish ultra-compact pamphlets to give readers a taste of their poets, or to introduce new writers.

Now, Lizzy Dening, the young poet who's the subject of Nasty Little Intro #2, isn't, strictly speaking, a new writer where I'm concerned. I've heard her read in Cambridge, and also come across her poems in magazines. I won't try to review the pamphlet as such, because I'd probably end up giving too much away, and at £2 there's really no reason not to try it for yourself, but all five poems are taut, quietly surprising, and hugely promising.

Nasty Little Press describe it, and their other mini-selections, as the perfect accompaniment to a train journey, or a long, hot bath. I won't argue with that.

Some recent reading

There's a good review of Claire Askew's chapbook The Mermaid and the Sailors over at Rob Mackenzie's blog. I've been meaning to write something about it myself, and will do eventually. In fact, reading Rob's excellent piece will give me the kick up the arse I need to start rolling out some reviews from next week, starting with David Morley's Enchantment.

Sphinx has the first reviews of Matthew Stewart's fine pamphlet Inventing Truth, and there are new reviews appearing there all the time, plus a great archive of past articles.

Meanwhile, I've been enjoying Ernesto Priego's The Present Day. I've just come across this review of it, which sounds pretty spot-on to me. It's a terrific book, and I've even had a go at reading some of the untranslated Spanish poems. I might need a bit more practice there, though.

Sphinx 16

The latest online issue of Sphinx magazine is out now - it continues the unusual (and I think, highly effective) system of three reviews for each chapbook. I reviewed Hilary Menos's Wheelbarrow Farm (as always with Templar, beautifully produced) and Martin Hayden's Meeting The Pilgrimage Halfway - see what I, and the other reviewers, made of them.

Sphinx 15

The latest issue of Sphinx is online, including a couple of reviews by me, of Andrew Nightingale's The Black Madonna, and Alan Hill's No Biography (one of HappenStance's own chapbooks). Both are excellent, in quite different ways.

There are a couple of Nine Arches chapbooks among the reviews, too - Claire Crowther's Mollicle, and Ruth Larbey's Funglish, both of which I'm reading at the moment.

Sphinx 10

The latest issue of Sphinx is just about out, featuring an interview with George Simmers, of Snakeskin, in heroic couplets, plus features on Worple, Grey Hen, bluechrome, and my interview with Jane Commane and Matt Nunn of Nine Arches Press.

There are also the usual reviews and the wonderful Savage Chickens cartoons, and the magazine's online reviews include four by me - Jane Holland's Lament of the Wanderer, Frances Corkey Thompson's The Long Acre and Anne Caldwell's Slug Language (those two both from HappenStance), and Gordon Jarvie's Watching The Sun and Other Poems.

I won't spoil them for you, but I will say that I enjoyed all four chapbooks - Jane Holland's and Frances Corkey Thompson's were particularly memorable.

New Sphinx

I got home late last night to find the new issue of Sphinx waiting for me. I made the mistake of dipping into it for what was supposed to be five minutes, and ended up reading Rob Mackenzie’s excellent piece on poetry blogging, a fine interview with poet, artist and Stride Magazine editor Rupert Loydell, and Tia Ballantine’s perceptive (and glowing) review of James Wood’s Inextinguishable. Who needs sleep?

There's plenty more still to read, and of course the website contains a wealth of reviews that complement the printed version. Sphinx editor Helena Nelson mentions that it is likely to go totally online in the near future. It’s a shame in some respects, but on the other hand it will give it the opportunity to maintain its high standards without running up huge bills. Stride itself serves as a good example of just how well an independent online mag can work.

Whatever the format, Sphinx remains an essential read for anyone interested in the poetry pamphlet world. Buy one now.

Meanwhile...

Plenty of good stuff over at Stride. There are these poems by Jennifer Olds - some great stuff from her also featured on the site last summer.

There's a review of Kelvin Corcoran's Backward Turning Sea, which includes the chapbook Roger Hilton's Sugar, which I reviewed for Sphinx a couple of years back. I liked it a lot, and Andy Brown is similarly positive about it.

Finally, there's a review of Stephen Romer's new collection. I remember reading some of his poems years ago and liking them a lot, and I was thinking just the other day that it was a long time since I'd seen anything from him.

Sphinx 8

Issue 8 of Sphinx arrived on Saturday, and a very good read it is too, with Gill McEvoy writing about her excellent, and now sold-out, HappenStance chapbook Uncertain Days, and a look at the increasingly impressive Cinnamon Press, among other goodies.

The emphasis is moving more towards articles on poetry chapbooks and chapbook presses, with most of the reviews now appearing straight on the website. I reviewed another enjoyable batch this issue, with my particular favourite being Jim C Wilson’s Paper Run, but there’s plenty for all tastes. Buy or subscribe now.