I don’t read much poetry, I feel like I get something out of it, but I think I miss most of what’s valuable. I liked this stuff but it didn’t bowl me over the way some of Haddon’s novels have. I requested this book from my library thinking it was recent, but actually it was published 16 years ago, shortly after his big “hit” (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time). ( )

Very mixed bag.
Okay, not inspiring. Apart from "This poem is certificate 18" which I thought was wonderful. ( )

Oy. I know I'm not an expert at reading poetry, but I've enjoyed a fair bit of it. This book, not so much. Sorry. I wish I could say why in terms that would help you - but all I can say is that *to me* it seemed like almost all of these were playing with words & allusions to no actual purpose. No insights, no revelations, no new perspectives. Ok, a couple did reference that exact attitude, did briefly explore what it means to be a poet and what a poet's role is... but those seemed more like self-indulgent navel-gazing, y'know? One poem I did like - but then this one seemed more like the kind of simplistic narrative verse fed to school-children. Judge for yourself:

A Tally Stick

The bark is notched six times, one notch
for every cow left in the pound,
then split, the cowman and the poundman
taking half each, so that when
the cowman comes to claim his stock
six cows are led out from the pound
though neither of the men can count.

Connemara, 1610:
A cowman spreads his hands and watches
as a priest names all his fingers.
He starts to count potatoes, hens,
the steps across his single field
whose blades the Lord alone can sum.

Then pausing at the gate one night
he thinks of seven. Not trees. Not dogs.
Just seven. Like the Plough
before God put the stars in.

( )

love his versions of Horace's Odes ( )

Unfortunately I listened to this rather than read it. Like all poetry one needs to go back and forth not easy to do on audio. Also I never knew the works that were abridged so it lost all meaning. ( )