Bought poetry book by living author?

Jay Mandal

Jay Mandal

The latest poll is: Have you bought a poetry book by a living author in the last year? I'm not into poetry, so the answer's 'no'.

Carol

I'd have to say the same, that is not my area.

scribe

So I'm going to look like a right swot then :0)
Carol Ann Duffy, Wendy Cope, Vicky feaver, Simon Armitage, Kenneth Steven - to name but a few that sit on my bookshelves.

Betsie

That's heartwarming news Scribe - what about U A Fanthorpe

MrD

4 in the last month. All part of a poetry group in Belfast.

Anna

A couple anthologies, but only one collection - John Hegley.

scribe

Hi Betsie,
I like what I've read of her but only have her stuff in anthologies. I don't have any of her collections.

Tessa Tangent

Benjamin Zephaniah and Pam Ayres.  I write more poetry than I ever understand in anyone else - and that's simply for getting out feelings on things in private.  Some for the kids.  Anna has been into Sylvia Plath lately.

Today we were at Waterstones in Greenwich (I was sussing out the price, er £30, to replace my old Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, which has mysteriously disappeared) but we went to the poetry section to look for a book of limericks to lighten her up for Christmas (the bloke wanted to buy this for her).  Anyway, long search later, the girl at the desk very helpfully looked about and on her computer to come up with The Blue Book of Lewd Limericks, something like that, which would have been just the job.  Unfortunately, we couldn't find their copy in Poetry or Humour.  Never mind, Anna came away with one book on suicide, another on death, a huge tome on astrology and some trinket just for light reading, like Nietsche, I forget exactly. 

Makes me laugh, that 17 year old of mine.  Life can be far too serious at times.

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Wow Tessa, I now know there are others out there :0)
Mine's 15, has just finished reading Machiavelli, is now reading Marx's Communist Manifesto, and has bookshelves stuffed with wiccan and pagan books. Last seen somewhere in her bedroom rattling runes :0)

montholon

I bought a book by Kenneth Steven after hearing him speak at Swanwick.  Unfortunately, I lent it to someone in my writing group when I got back and I'm still waiting to read it myself!

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monothlon - arm wrestle them to get it back. He writes lovely poetry.

montholon

He's an interesting man to talk to as well and very generous with his time.  I didn't go to his poetry course at Swanwick, but I gather from people who did that it was excellent.

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He does have a 'how to' poetry book in print. It's not extensive but useful nevertheless.
'Poet's Handbook: A guide to building great poems.'

Jenny

TT - Another possibility is Very Rude Limericks by Stephen Cordwell (published 1995 - ISBN 1-85627-504-3).

It's available on Amazon for £2.99 plus postage.

Jenny

TT - Forget that bit of advice because the limericks get ruder as you go through the book. I've never looked at the end section before and it might be a bit too much even for a broad-minded mum like you.

It's headed Disgusting and they are!

sallyannie

Bought the Life Lines poetry CD from Oxfam earlier in the year. Also a collection by Siriol Troup and another by David Grubb as a result of attending poetry courses.

Verica

I've only just noticed this posting.  I've bought Tim Cunningham's Unequal Thirds, published by Bloodaxe.  Excellent and worth re-reading several times.

scribe

I recently received a copy of Guinevere Clark's 'Fresh Fruit and Screams' to review. For anyone who likes Plath, this will appeal with its similar dark imagery. It has been described as 'like imagery on LSD'. It's a cracker!
It's great to see how many talkbackers are still actively buying poetry books.