Due to their utter spinelessness, there’s always a risk of poetry pamphlets getting lost on the shelves – which is a real shame – there’s some wonderful stuff in the shop at the moment. Especially exciting are four titles from the new and super-lively publisher Hercules Editions, head-honchoed by the indomitable Tamar Yoseloff, each small, square and superbly produced. (Claire Crowther’s Silents is my favourite of theirs at the moment; a brilliantly-done poetic tribute to silent cinema.) Speaking of Old Indomitables, Nick Murray’s Rack Press continues its summer season with a wonderful collaborative pamphlet from David Harsent and Fiona Sampson (Address Book), and J.H. Prynne’s brilliant Commentary on Shakespeare’s sonnet 15, Graft and Corruption, is my thoroughgoing contender for runner-up book of the year.
Among new poets, Sarah Fletcher’s Kissing Angles has been attracting plaudits left right & centre, as well as a Sabotage Awards nomination; it’s a treat, which will impress fans of Liz Berry and Helen Mort – and Oliver Comins , whose Templar pamphlet Yes to Everything contains a poem called ‘Godstick’ which is one of my favourite things I’ve read this year.
