When it comes to reading my first – and usually last – port of call is a novel. I also read short stories but only when time (away from novels) allows and in order to improve my own short story craft. But every now and then I have a poetry ‘season’ which usually arrives out of nowhere and eventually recedes as I gravitate back to fiction. Last time I had one must be almost ten years ago when I indulged in the Staying Alive which I liked because it combined traditional poets with more contemporary ones. If I say my favourite poems from that book are by T.S. Eliot, Wendy Cope, Simon Armitage and R.S. Thomas you’ll know I’m not hugely adventurous in my tastes but with poetry even more than with fiction you know what you like.
So, what I like now, is Shirley Wright’s book of poems which came out last year The Last Green Field although I find it as hard to say what I like about them as I would do with any of the poets mentioned above. The thing about poetry is that if you like it, it feels as if it has been written just for you, and that makes it a huge source of comfort and pleasure when it happens. Knowing Shirley as a contributor to Unchained, the poems in this collection are actually a lot more varied than I expected, summoning up a big cast of characters and situations. And although there is a kind of thematic unity, it’s not that of the eco-warrior as the title might suggest. Lots of them, like Galahad and Past Imperfect made me laugh with neat twists in the tail. Some are conversational in tone and others like Midnight in Harris almost entirely descriptive. All of them rest on the most acute observation of events, people and nature and the ability to render this into a few stunning lines. I could tell you now that my other favourites are Getting On, The Last Green Field and the haunting Call of Home but that’s only on a first reading.
Because here’s the thing. How many novels have you reread? In my case only a few. But in this slim volume of poems there will be many that I reread time and time again, with favourites rising to the top and being replaced with new ones, according to the season or my own moods.
So, on a more prosaic note, not just good for the soul, but excellent value for money!
Ali Bacon / Books and Other Things 
Haha, now there’s a good Scottish take on poetry – value for money!
I’ve started reading Shirley Wright’s poetry collection also, and am dawdling to make it last because I am enjoying them so much. The ones I’ve read so far are absolutely beautiful.
Like you, Ali, I usually head for novels and short stories rather than poetry, but I was recently advised by the poet/novelist/creative thinking coach Orna Ross that reading a poem a day is a valuable exercise for any writer, and I have to agree – and it’s especially soothing at bedtime (provided you pick the right kind of poems, of course!)
By the way, (trying not to sound too much like Amazon here), if you like Shirley Wright’s poems, I think you’d also enjoy “Open Window” by the late Joyce Williams – her husband David published it postbumously (via SilverWood Books) as a tribute to her, and he is now active on the local poetry circuit giving readings, and I think he and Shirley have crossed paths at some of these. (They had a chat at the “Unchained” launch – another book on my to-review list!)
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Thanks for the recommendation, Debbie. I do enjoy poetry readings but in a different way from reading alone. I had heard some of Shirley’s poems before (lucky me!) but found the impact was quite different when I started on the book.
Ali B
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