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.

Wednesday, 18 July 2007

"Low Probability of Racoons" by Peter Howard (Envoi Poets, 1994)

If while maintaining my approach I wrote more and better poetry, and sold myself more, who would I most be like? Well, Peter Howard's a candidate, and this pamphlet/book of 37 poems shows where his career stood a decade or so ago - appearances in "Poetry Review" and "The Independent" but otherwise not far from where I am now. He's prepared to use forms, to write about science and to experiment formally. He's less pretentious than I am - I'm not keen on the short light pieces (e.g. "The Visit") and I don't think the villanelles work, but I'd have been happy to have written "Francesca Diffracted".

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