Roddy Lumsden
Like This by Diana Pooley (Salt Modern Poets)
Through the Square Window by Sinead Morrissey (Carcanet Press)
Undraining Sea by Vahni Capildeo (Egg Box Publishing)
Chronic by D A Powell (Graywolf Press)
Fort Red Border by Kiki Petrosino (Sarabande Books)
Taste of Cherry by Kara Candito (University of Nebraska Press)
Jane Holland
Rain by Don Paterson (Faber & Faber)
Suit of Lights by Damian Walford Davies (Seren Books)
A Century of Poetry Review, edited by Fiona Sampson
(Carcanet Press)
Anthony Joseph
Orphaned Latitudes by Gérard Rudolf (Red Squirrel Press)
How To Build a City by Tom Chivers (Salt Modern Poets)
Undraining Sea by Vahni Capildeo (Egg Box Publishing)
Katy Evans-Bush
Caligula on Ice and Other Poems by Tim Turnbull (Donut Press)
The Song of Lunch by Christopher Reid (CB Editions)
How To Build a City by Tom Chivers (Salt Modern Poets)
David Caddy
Music’s Duel: New and Selected Poems by Gavin Selerie
(Shearsman Books)
Conversation with Murasaki by Tom Lowenstein (Shearsman Books)
Practical Water by Brenda Hillman (Wesleyan Press)
Anne Berkeley
The Clockwork Gift by Claire Crowther (Shearsman Books)
The Ambulance Box by Andrew Philip (Salt Modern Poets)
A Scattering by Christopher Reid (Areté Books)
Simon Barraclough
instead of stars by Amy Key (tall-lighthouse)
The Borrowed Notebook by Chris McCabe (Landfill Press)
Frankie, Alfredo, by Liane Strauss (Donut Press)
Shaindel Beers
Cradle Song by Stacey Lynn Brown (C&R Press)
Packing Light: New & Selected Poems by Marilyn Kallet
(Black Widow Press)
War Dances by Sherman Alexie (Grove Press)
Petals of Zero Petals of One by Adam Zawacki (Talisman House)
Rob A. Mackenzie
Third Wish Wasted by Roddy Lumsden (Bloodaxe Books)
The Ambulance Box by Andrew Philip (Salt Modern Poets)
Rays by Richard Price (Carcanet Press)
Valeria Melchioretto
Bird Head Son by Anthony Joseph (Salt Modern Poets)
The Tethers by Carrie Etter (Seren Books)
Blood/Sugar by James Byrne (Arc Publications)
Gaia Holmes
The Hunt in the Forest by John Burnside (Jonathan Cape)
Fruitcake by Selima Hill (Bloodaxe Books)
Hammers and Hearts of the Gods by Fred Voss (Bloodaxe Books)
Peony Moon 
This was a really hard one to answer, to keep it to a) book published in 2009, not just read in 2009, and b) only three! (My first No 3 was published in 2008 apparently. Waiting for second no 3 to go up.) Also humbling to realise how few books published this year I actually read this year – not half the ones I wanted to; there’s my resolution for 2010: catch up on 2009, and keep on top of the new stuff! (And why was Mr Lumsden allowed so many??)
Hi Katy, thanks so much for your recommendations. I didn’t want to police choices too much. I found it quite difficult confining people to collections published in 2009, so where people chose more than three books I tried to be inclusive rather than exclusive.
*Drum roll*
Katy’s third choice for 2009 is:
How To Build a City by Tom Chivers (Salt Modern Poets)
And if anyone has any additional collections they’d like to recommend, please do so in the comments section.
The more the merrier!
Typical of Lumo not to stick to the rules. Good to see Fred Voss mentioned there; that’s an interesting collection.
I stuck to books which have inspired me, in one way or another, to write. That’s my test of a good poetry book. If it makes your fingers itch to put something down on paper yourself, even if only in angry reaction, then it’s a useful book. I suppose I read in a parasitic manner, looking to suck inspiration out of other writers.
Re my own choices above, Paterson always gets me writing, and the critical pieces in the Poetry Review anthology certainly got me thinking about how and why I write, while Damian Walford Davies, who really needs a shorter name, is an excellent new writer whose debut is astonishingly resonant – reading his poems made me go back to my own efforts and look at how I can tighten and rework them in a more musical way.
Rules, Jane! Horrors!
Go out and buy a poetry book, everyone.
you lovely people anthony and katy! 🙂
Lovely idea, this!
Thanks so much, Shaindel and Michelle. Books and poetry need a boost in this economy, in this time. And i’m personally very grateful for the boost.
It’s interesting how little overlap we’re seeing on your lists!
Rock on–Marilyn
Well, it is actually helpful to us poets stuck in far distant places.
I noticed that Cradle Song by Stacey Lynn Brown had shown up twice. It’s an excellent book–really one very long poem about the speakers time growing up in the South (US), her reflections, and her recreation of moments, in particular her relationship with her African American babysitter. I could easily have placed this book on my list.
Hey Tom, I’m lovely too, you know!
I’m going to explain a few of my choices a bit, so as not to get into trouble (or to get myself into even more trouble; I guess we’ll see!):
Sherman Alexie’s War Dances has poems interspersed with the short stories or as part of the short stories–as in a character may write a poem. Some critics have called these poems “filler,” but many of them are amazing. I’d hate for this poetry to not be noticed because it’s interspersed in a book of fiction.
Andrew Zawacki’s Petals of Zero Petals of One is a collection composed of three long poems–the first of which is GORGEOUS! The second poem is interesting in its experimentation of language. The third poem, I’m still trying to figure out. My review of this book will be in Contrary’s (http://www.contrarymagazine.com) winter issue.
Cheers Michelle. Nice idea. Right where’s them book tokens.
(and cheers CP, KEB n TW, much appreciated)
Thanks, Shaindel.
Happy book buying, Tim!
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