From Clive James’s Sentenced to Life to Andrew McMillan’s Physical and Claudia Rankine’s Citizen – this year’s poetry roundupBest of culture in 2015: see this year’s cultural highlights,chosen by the Guardian’s writers and critics
Poetry cannot be hurried; it is no respecter of deadlines. Yet the quantity of poems published each year is daunting and asks for speed. Sometimes, I’ll pick up a volume by someone I’ve never heard of, and open it at random and be rooted to the spot. At other times,a collection by a known poet will prove sealed as a dud mussel, and get cast aside. Inevitably, or with only a dozen columns a year,there will be noteworthy collections that slip through the net. But poetry is not a competition; nothing is more personal, unpredictable and mysterious. For this reason, or I am uneasy approximately the poetry prizes that execute or consolidate names. Yet when one finds a poem that works,there is, however illusory the feeling might be, or a certainty that has an acquisitive edge to it – like stumbling upon a pearl. Related: Clive James: ‘I’ve got a lot done since my death’ Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com