Edgar Allan Poe – The Raven
In Scottish schools Robert Burns poems are read aloud in regular competitions for the Burns Cup and I got used to hearing Rabbie’s stanza’s. Then, one day, the teacher read ‘The Raven’ and it made me sit up and listen. These musical stylised words were very different and I was intrigued with the gothic atmosphere Poe created. How did he do that? I set out to learn more about poetry, I also learned that Poe died age 40 – life is short.
Julian Colton – Cold Light of Morning
Julian’s work has appeared in countless quality magazines and anthologies. His magnificent fourth poetry collection is a work of art. A learned example of how to ‘show not tell’ Julian gazes outwards with a bleak sense of foreboding for the future. He edits the Eildon Tree magazine.
William Blake – Proverbs of Hell
As an over-idealistic youth, Blake’s radical attitude consumed me, especially his ‘Proverbs of Hell’ . ‘The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.’ Wow! While seeking employment I read many of his books but, eventually, his intense memorable fancy became too much for me so I went to work and moved on.
Matthew M C Smith – Origins
In this debut collection 21 concentrated, striking, imagist poems go straight for the senses, escaping Reason’s attempts to pigeonhole them. Less is more from the winner of the R S Thomas Prize at the Gwl Cybi Festival in 2018. He is editor of Black Bough Poems, an online micro-poetry journal.
Olga Tokarczuk – Flights
Multi award winning and perfect for our times – 116 mini-essays and riffs narrated by an unnamed female traveller and bound together with ideas of matter and anti-matter, information and anti-information. In 2019 Olga Tokarczuk was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Ian has been reading for a long time, inevitably he began to write and his work has appeared in numerous publications. Here is an extract from Loll Junggebruths introduction to Ian’s ‘Notes for my Frankenstein Film…’ RAUM Vol 1 issue 2 in 2015. ‘Ian Richardson’s poem is a conversation between texts in two very different literary forms and spaces; a 19th century novel and a poem that claims to consist of notes for a film to be made…’
You can find Ian’s micro-poetry on Twitter @IanRich10562022″