Correspondences – Anne Michaels
A stunningly beautiful book with artwork by Bernice Eisentein. It is an elegy to Michael’s father. Her poems are sparse, melancholic and intense. I have read them over and over and never tire.
A Child’s Christmas in Wales – Dylan Thomas
I read this every Christmas Eve. It is a lyrical long poem in book form with illustrations by Peter Bailey. It features wolves, bears, hippo’s and cats, all come alive in my imagination as Thomas seduces me with his incredible language.How I love it.
Selected Poetry – W. B. Yeats
What an artist Yeats is. He brings the images alive through scintillating imagery and language. ‘The song of the Wandering Aengus’ is a favourite of mine, it starts: ‘I went out to the hazel wood, because a fire was in my head.’ Go, find this poem and enjoy.
Complete Poems – Vasko Popa
This large volume of Popa’s sublime poetry is introduced by Ted Hughes and takes us into another dimension, where all manner of things are shown to us. Myth, folk tales, surrealism are all interwoven to create the most exciting work that one could wish for.
Sappho
Much of her poetry remains only in fragments but these lines of lyric poems jump off the page, spin in the air and remind me that time doesn’t change, that life, love and conflict are still with us. She is a priestess of enchantment.
Raine Geoghegan, MA is of Romany Heritage. She is a poet, writer and Performance Coach. She is a Forward Prize, Pushcart Prize (two years running) and Best of the Net 2018 nominee. Her first book, ‘Apple Water: Povel Panni’ was a Spring 2019 Poetry Book Society selection and has had brilliant reviews. Her second book, ‘they lit fires: lenti hatch o yog’ was released on 11 December 2019. Her work has been published internationally and has been featured in two films. http://www.rainegeoghegan.co.uk