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Round-up 2016: Poetry
Andy Croft hosts some of Britain’s leading poets as they review the collections which have made a big impression on them this year
When the ravages of Alzheimer’s leave an elderly woman marooned in painful memories of October 1950, her grandchild comes up with a creative strategy.
New releases from Simone White, Brass Funkeys, and Souad Massi
SUE TURNER is compelled by a history that shows how far a country can turn in on itself to collude with abuses of power
RON JACOBS is persuaded by the parallel drawn between Charles Manson and Donald Trump
In this comparison of Britain pre- and post Thatcher, WILL POMORE applauds the analysis, but distrusts the solutions offered
MARIA DUARTE defends a solid, late-career Spielberg conspiracy flick that calls for empathy in a hostile world
• JOHN BURNSIDE
A FINE year for British poetry, with excellent collections from three poets who have, perhaps, not been consistently accorded all the praise they deserve.
Bernard O’Donoghue, a veteran poet of craft, deftness and quiet elegance, is on top form in The Seasons of Cullen Church (Faber), while Ian Duhig, another true original and, arguably, one of the most formally astute poets working today, delights, moves and astonishes with The Blind Road-Maker (Picador).
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