Literary reviews by Tim Love.
Warning: Rather than reviews, these are often notes in preparation for reviews that were never finished, or pleas for help with understanding pieces. See Litref Reviews - a rationale for details.

Tuesday 17 May 2005

"Unsuitable Poems" by Helena Nelson (HappenStance, 2005)

When I send to magazines my habit is to send 3 poems: 2 proper poems and novelty party piece. The party piece is often the one selected - I guess editors want a bit of variety in their magazines, but also these poems might be free of the portentious baggage that can burden my more ernest efforts.

This chapbook of 28 poems includes pieces from Forward collections, "The Dark Horse", etc. There's a prose poem, a very narrow poem, and several rhyming pieces. There are nods to Stevie Smith and Emily Dickinson, and pieces like "Blind Date" bring Wendy Cope to mind.

I found "Slith" and "Mature Student" a little too light. Pieces like "Thumbscrew" are neat.

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