Poetry Unbound is an engaging anthology of 50 poems with the intention of opening worlds and I think it will do just that. I say I think it will because I will confess straight away that I haven’t read all the poems yet. That’s just not how I read poetry. I like to read a poem and savour it for a while, letting the intent and images wash over me and infuse me with its power. Reading one poem after another just doesn’t work for me. But that can take me quite a while before I ‘finish’ an anthology. It doesn’t bother me to do that but when publisher has been kind enough to send me a copy, I feel the commitment to offer some kind of response as close to the publication date as possible.
What makes this diverse selection a little different from other anthologies is the text that accompanies each poem. Padraig O Tuama has lovingly crafted a structure for each poem where he offers a brief introduction before the poem itself then he gives us his feelings and responses, a little lit crit maybe, some information on the poet which somehow gives the poems a wider context and the experience of reading them a greater intimacy .
There are poets I ‘know’ – Margaret Atwood and Lemn Sissay for example and some who are new to me. As with any collection I always read each poem aloud and I already have my favourites; Song by Tracy K. Smith – powerful in its observational simplicity, A Blessing by James Wright – a moment captured and analysed so succinctly and delicately.
It's a quite delightful collection and even when I have read all of the poems in it I shall return again and again.
My thanks to Canongate Books for a gifted copy.
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