Review: Poetry Selection
From Planet 224
Jane Blank reviews
John Ormond: Collected Poems by John Ormond
Living in the Delta: New and Collected Poems by Landeg White
A Formula for Night: New and Selected Poems by Tamar Yoseloff
Y Fro Eithinog: Casgliad O Gerddi T. Llew Jones by T. Llew Jones
Poetry publishing in Wales can be justly proud of these four volumes. I was drawn first to the comprehensively collected poems of the great John Ormond, introduced by Patrick McGuinness and edited by Ormond’s daughter, Rian Evans. I enjoyed the extensive notes, which put the poems in the context of Ormond’s life (1923-1990) and the literary scene of which he was such a seminal part. Earlier in the month I came across Jeff Nuttall’s poem ‘Notes towards a Suicide Note’, so it was uncanny to read Ormond’s ‘Notes to a Suicide’. I delighted in Nuttall’s characteristic shock factor, while Ormond’s mastery of register and rhythm delivered a dignified and memorable elegy for his friend, the novelist and poet B.S. Johnson.
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