Some Favourite Poetry Collections of 2009: Part Eight

    
    
Leanne O’Sullivan
     
Train to Gorey by Liz O’Donoghue (Arlen House)
The Last Geraldine Officer by Thomas McCarthy (Anvil Press)
The Sun-fish by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin (Gallery Press)
    
    
Janet Sutherland
   
Conversation with Murasaki by Tom Lowenstein (Shearsman Books)
The son by Carrie Etter (Oystercatcher Press)
A Sleepwalk on the Severn by Alice Oswald (Faber & Faber)
  
  
Jo Hemmant
  
Beneath the Rime by Siriol Troup (Shearsman Books)
Furniture by Lorraine Mariner (Picador)
Facing the Public by Martina Evans (Anvil Press)
The Handless Maiden by Vicki Feaver (Jonathan Cape, reissue)
  
  
Christine Swint
  
Slamming Open the Door by Kathleen Sheeder Bonanno
(Alice James Books)
The Bible of Lost Pets by Jamey Dunham (Salt Modern Poets)
Sassing by Karen Head (WordTech Communications)
  
  
Carolee Sherwood
  
Dearest Creature by Amy Gerstler (Penguin Books)
Displacement by Leslie Harrison (Mariner Books)
Shelter by Carey Salerno (Alice James Books)
  
  
Julie Buffaloe-Yoder
  
Some Misplaced Joan of Arc by Leah Angstman
(Alternating Current Press)
light dark light by Tom Kryss (iniquity press/vendetta books)
Shadow Box by Fred Chappell (LSU Press)
  
  
Sally Evans
  
Chasing the Ivy by Maureen Almond (Biscuit Publishing)
Adrian: Scotland Celebrates Adrian Mitchell,
edited by Chrys Salt & John Hudson (Markings)
Bho Leabhar-Latha Maria Malibran /
From the Diary of Maria Malibran by Christopher Whyte (Acair)
   
   
Helen Moffett
   
Hypen by Tania van Schalkwyk (The UCT Writers Series /
Electric Book Works)
Oleander by Fiona Zerbst (Modjaji Books)
Please, Take Photographs by Sindiwe Magona (Modjaji Books)
   
   
Juliet Cook
   
Moth Moon by Matt Jasper (BlazeVOX Books)
The Ravenous Audience by Kate Durbin (Akashic Books)
shana linda~pretty pretty by Nanette Rayman-Rivera
(Scattered Light Publications)
   
   
Heather Ann Schmidt
   
Watching the Spring Festival by Frank Bidart
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
A Civic Pageant by Frank Montesonti (Black Lawrence Press)
Lovesick by Howie Good (The Poetry Press)
   
   
Elizabeth Kate Switaj
  
[+!] by Kane X. Faucher, Matina Stamatakis, John Moore Williams
(Calliope Nerve Media)
stains: early poems by Lori A. May (Bohemian Street Press)
Bone Dream by Moira MacDougall (Tightrope Books)
  
  
Claire Keyes
  
Carta Marina: A Poem in Three Parts by Ann Fisher-Wirth
(Wings Press)
  
  
Cheryl & Janet Snell
  
shana linda~pretty pretty by Nanette Rayman-Rivera
(Scattered Light Publications)
Making Good Use of August by Sherry O’Keefe (Finishing Line Press)
Chaperons of a Lost Poet by John Vick (BlazeVOX Books)
  
  
Rachel Dacus
   
In Praise of Falling by Cheryl Dumesnil
(University of Pittsburgh Press)
Beyond Forgetting: Poetry and Prose about Alzheimer’s Disease,
edited by Holly J. Hughes, foreward by Tess Gallagher
(Kent State University Press)
  
   
*
     
Thank you to all the generous writers who’ve participated
and to the bloggers who’ve included links on their blogs.
     
And thank you, readers.

Some Favourite Poetry Collections of 2009: Part Seven

 

 
Bill Allegrezza
 
Sonnet 56 by Paul Hoover (Les Figues Press)
Clampdown by Jennifer Moxley (Flood Editions)
The Book of Frank by C A Conrad (Chax Press)
 
 
Ren Powell
 
Carta Marina: A Poem in Three Parts by Ann Fisher-Wirth
(Wings Press)
Stalin in Aruba by Shelley Puhak (Black Lawrence Press)
Then, Something by Patricia Fargnoli (Tupelo Press)
The Mother/Child Papers by Alicia Suskin Ostriker
(University of Pittsburgh Press, reissue)
 
 
Amy MacLennan
 
Fear of Moving Water by Alex Grant (Wind Publications)
A Brief History of Time by Shaindel Beers (Salt Modern Poets)
In the Voice of a Minor Saint by Sarah J. Sloat (Tilt Press)
  
  
Pam Thompson
  
Unexpected Weather by Abi Curtis (Salt Modern Poets)
The Clockwork Gift by Claire Crowther (Shearsman Books)
Relinquish by Meryl Pugh (Arrowhead Press)
  
  
Claire Askew
  
Nothing Unrequited Here by Heather Bell (Verve Bath Press)
Dances with Vowels: New and Selected Poems
by Kevin Cadwallender (Smokestack Press)
Cover Story by Dave Coates (Forest Publications)
  
  
Geraldine Green
  
Poppin’ Johnny by George Wallace (Three Rooms Press)
The Hunt in the Forest by John Burnside (Jonathan Cape)
Inside a Turtle Shell by Robert Savino (Allbook Books)
  
  
Roy Woolley
  
Plan B by Paul Muldoon (Gallery Press)
Rain by Don Paterson (Faber & Faber)
Over by Jane Draycott (Carcanet Press)
  
  
Jocelyn Page
  
Endpoint and other poems by John Updike (Knopf)
Furniture by Lorraine Mariner (Picador)
Weeds and Wild Flowers by Alice Oswald (with etchings
by Jessica Greenman) (Faber & Faber)
  
  
Rustum Kozain
  
Oleander by Fiona Zerbst (Modjaji Books)
  
  
Jayne Fenton Keane
 
Best Australian Poems 2009, edited by Robert Adamson
(Black Inc.)
  
  
Amy Key
  
Chronic by D A Powell (Graywolf Press)
Like This by Diana Pooley (Salt Modern Poets)
Poemland by Chelsey Minnis (Wave Books)

Some Favourite Poetry Collections of 2009: Part Six

 
 
Matt Merritt
 
The Ambulance Box by Andrew Philip (Salt Modern Poets)
Sounds in the Grass by Matt Nunn (Nine Arches Press)
The Clockwork Gift by Claire Crowther (Shearsman Books)
 
 
Aine MacAodha
 
The Watchful Heart – A New Generation of Irish Poets –
Poems and Essays, edited by Joan McBreen (Salmon Poetry)
Listen by Shirley Howard Hall (Victory Graphics & Media)
New Selected Poems 1984 – 2004 by Carol Ann Duffy (Picador)
 
 
Heather Fowler
 
Ka-Ching! by Denise Duhamel (University of Pittsburgh Press)
A Brief History of Time by Shaindel Beers (Salt Modern Poets)
The Dance Most of All by Jack Gilbert (Knopf)
 
 
Graham Mummery
 
The Burning of the Books by George Szirtes (Bloodaxe Books)
The Embrace: Selected Poems by Valerio Magrelli,
translated by Jamie McKendrick (Faber & Faber)
Reaching Out to the World: New and Selected Prose Poems
by Robert Bly (White Pine Press)
 
 
Sue Guiney
 
Cailleach: The Hag of Beara by Leanne O’Sullivan (Bloodaxe Books)
mainstream love hotel by Todd Swift (tall-lighthouse)
Recital by John Siddique (Salt Modern Poets)
A Lope of Time by Ruth O’Callaghan (Shoestring Press)
 
 
Fiona Robyn
 
Broken Sleep by Sally Read (Bloodaxe Books)
Ohio Violence by Alison Stine (University of North Texas Press)
The Kingdom of Ordinary Time by Marie Howe
(W. W. Norton & Co.)
 
 
Naomi Woddis
 
Continental Shelf by Fred D’Aguiar (Carcanet Press)
Suckle by Roger Robinson (Flipped Eye Publishing)
a pint for the ghost by Helen Mort (tall-lighthouse)
 
 
Dzifa Benson
 
Bird Head Son by Anthony Joseph (Salt Modern Poets)
Lara by Bernadine Evaristo (Bloodaxe Books)
  
  
Jeet Thayil
  
Poems: 1959 – 2009 by Frederick Seidel (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
  
  
Amy King
  
Stars of the Night Commute by Ana Božičević
(Tarpaulin Sky Press)
   
   
Ben Wilkinson
 
The Tethers by Carrie Etter (Seren Books)
Third Wish Wasted by Roddy Lumsden (Bloodaxe Books)
Rain by Don Paterson (Faber & Faber)
  
  
Angela Kirby
  
Nowhere’s Far, New and Selected Poems 1990 – 2008
by Phil Bowen (Salt Modern Poets)
Poppy in a Storm-Struck Field by Lynne Wycherley
(Shoestring Press)
Third Wish Wasted by Roddy Lumsden (Bloodaxe Books)
   
   
Dara Wier
  
Barn Burned, Then by Michelle Taransky (Omnidawn Publishing)
The Plot Genie by Gillian Conoley (Omnidawn Publishing)
Lost Alphabet by Lisa Olstein (Copper Canyon Press)
Legend of the Recent Past by James Haug
(The National Poetry Review Press)
Pink & Hot Pink Habitat by Natalie Lyalin (Coconut Books)
The Difficult Farm by Heather Christie (Octopus Books)

Some Favourite Poetry Collections of 2009: Part Five

 
 
Jody Allen Randolph
 
Painting Rain by Paula Meehan (Carcanet Press)
Fort Red Border by Kiki Petrosino (Sarabande Books)
Apocalyptic Swing by Gabrielle Calvocoressi (Persea)
Dismantling the Hills by Michael McGriff
(University of Pittsburgh Press)
 
 
Patrick Chapman
 
mainstream love hotel by Todd Swift (tall-lighthouse)
In Sight of Home by Nessa O’Mahony (Salmon Poetry)
a compact of words by rob mclennan (Salmon Poetry)
 
 
Ivy Alvarez
 
One Secret Thing by Sharon Olds (Jonathan Cape)
Cross-Talk by Siobhán Campbell (Seren Books)
To Be Eaten by Mice by Robyn Mathison (Ginninderra Press)
 
 
Inua Ellams
 
Bird Head Son by Anthony Joseph (Salt Modern Poets)
City State: New London Poetry, edited by Tom Chivers
(Penned in the Margins)
Things to do before you leave Town by Ross Sutherland
(Penned in the Margins)
 
 
Colin Will
 
Third Wish Wasted by Roddy Lumsden (Bloodaxe Books)
Rays by Richard Price (Carcanet Press)
The Ambulance Box by Andrew Philip (Salt Modern Poets)
 
 
David Floyd
 
Third Wish Wasted by Roddy Lumsden (Bloodaxe Books)
Charismatic Megafauna by Tamsin Kendrick
(Penned in the Margins)
‘We needed coffee but …’ by Matthew Welton (Carcanet Press)
  
  
Hazel Frankel
 
What Love Comes To: New and Selected Poems by Ruth Stone
(Bloodaxe Books)
The Missing by Sián Hughes (Salt Modern Poets)
A Scattering by Christopher Reid (Areté Books)
  
  
James Womack
 
‘We needed coffee but …’ by Matthew Welton (Carcanet Press)
A Scattering by Christopher Reid (Areté Books)
The Song of Lunch by Christopher Reid (CB Editions)
 
 
Barbara Smith
 
The Sun-fish by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin (Gallery Press)
Occupation by Angela France (Ragged Raven Press)
The Wrong Miracle by Liz Gallagher (Salt Modern Poets)
The Fire Step by Tom French (Gallery Press)
The Treekeeper’s Tale by Pascale Petit (Seren Books)
The Opposite of Cabbage by Rob A. Mackenzie (Salt Modern Poets)
 
 
Ruth Ellen Kocher
 
Arc & Hue by Tara Betts (Willow Books)
Mixology by Adrian Matejka (Penguin)
 
 
Kelly Cherry
 
Shadow Box by Fred Chappell (LSU Press)
News of the World by Philip Levine (Knopf)

Some Favourite Poetry Collections of 2009: Part Four

 
 
Angela France
 
The Clockwork Gift by Claire Crowther (Shearsman Books)
Chora by Nigel McLoughlin (Templar Poetry)
Bundle o’Tinder by Rose Kelleher (Waywiser Press)
 
 
Susan Richardson
 
Weeds and Wild Flowers by Alice Oswald (with etchings
by Jessica Greenman) (Faber & Faber)
A Sleepwalk on the Severn by Alice Oswald (Faber & Faber)
I Spy Pinhole Eye, poems by Philip Gross
with photographs by Simon Denison (Cinnamon Press)
 
 
Collin Kelley
 
Carpathia by Cecilia Woloch (BOA Editions)
Sassing by Karen Head (WordTech Communications)
An Urgent Request by Sarah Luczaj (Fortunate Daughter Press)
This Pagan Heaven by Robin Kemp (Pecan Grove Press)

 
Katrina Naomi
 
One Secret Thing by Sharon Olds (Jonathan Cape)
Laughter Heard from the Road by Maggie O’Dwyer
(Templar Poetry)
Third Wish Wasted by Roddy Lumsden (Bloodaxe Books)
 
 
Arlene Ang
 
The Wrong Miracle by Liz Gallagher (Salt Modern Poets)
Fair Creatures of an Hour by Lynn Levin (Loonfeather Press)
In the Voice of a Minor Saint by Sarah J. Sloat (Tilt Press)
 
 
Laurie Byro
 
Carta Marina: A Poem in Three Parts by Ann Fisher-Wirth
(Wings Press)
Poems from the Women’s Movement, edited by Honor Moore
(Library of America)
Watching the Spring Festival by Frank Bidart
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
 
 
Ray Givans
 
The Year of Not Dancing by C L Dallat (Blackstaff Press)
Natural Mechanical by J.O. Morgan (CB Editions)
Darwin, A life in Poems by Ruth Padel (Chatto & Windus)
 
 
Ross Sutherland
 
Migraine Hotel by Luke Kennard (Salt Modern Poets)
Watering Can by Caroline Bird (Carcanet Press)
Weather A System by James Wilkes (Penned in the Margins)
 
 
Kelli Russell Agodon
 
Sharp Stars by Sharon Bryan (BOA Editions)
Then, Something by Patricia Fargnoli (Tupelo Press)
Upgraded to Serious by Heather McHugh (Copper Canyon Press)
 
 
Crystal Warren
 
Flashes by Carol Leff (Aerial Publishing)
Strange Fruit by Helen Moffett (Modjaji Books)
Oleander by Fiona Zerbst (Modjaji Books)
 
 
Derek Adams
 
Furniture by Lorraine Mariner (Picador)
Beneath the Rime by Siriol Troup (Shearsman Books)
The Girl with the Cactus Handshake by Katrina Naomi
(Templar Poetry)
 
 
Liesl Jobson
 
Impredehora by Yvette Christiansë (Kwela Books with SnailPress)
Al is die maan ‘n misverstand by Danie Marais (Tafelberg)
Hyphen by Tania van Schalkwyk (The UCT Writers Series/
Electric Book Works)
  
  
Chris McCabe
 
West End Survival Kit by Jeremy Reed (Waterloo Press)
How To Build a City by Tom Chivers (Salt Modern Poets)
The Burning of the Books by George Szirtes and Ronald King
(Full Circle Editions)
Undraining Sea by Vahni Capildeo (Egg Box Publishing)
Rays by Richard Price (Carcanet Press)
Weather A System by James Wilkes (Penned in the Margins)
Furniture by Lorraine Mariner (Picador)
Madeleine’s Letter to Bunting by Kelvin Corcoran
(Longbarrow Press)

Some Favourite Poetry Collections of 2009: Part Three

 
Liz Gallagher
 
The Missing by Siân Hughes (Salt Modern Poets)
Tolstoy in Love by Ray Givans (Dedalus Press)
In the Voice of a Minor Saint by Sarah J. Sloat (Tilt Press)
 
 
Pamela Mordecai
 
Naming the Mannequins by Nic Labriola (Insomniac Press)
Fierce Departures: The Poetry of Dionne Brand, with
an introduction by L. C.  Sanders (Wilfred Laurie University Press)
Hope’s Hospice and Other Poems by Kwame Dawes
(Peepal Tree Press)
 
 
Andrea Porter
 
The Burning of the Books by George Szirtes (Bloodaxe Books)
The Ambulance Box by Andrew Philip (Salt Modern Poets)
Faber New Poets: Fiona Benson (Faber & Faber)
 
 
Carrie Etter
 
Elsa Cross: Selected Poems, edited by Tony Frazer
(Shearsman Books)
Assorted Poems by Susan Wheeler (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
The Clockwork Gift by Claire Crowther (Shearsman Books)
  
  
Ann Drysdale
 
Darwin’s Microscope by Kelley Swain (Flambard Press)
No Panic Here by Mark Halliday (HappenStance)
Missing the Eclipse by Joan Hewitt (Cinnamon Press)
 
 
Sascha Aurora Aktar
 
Bird Head Son by Anthony Joseph (Salt Modern Poets)
Poetry State Forest by Bernadette Mayer (New Directions)
Orphaned Latitudes by Gérard Rudolf (Red Squirrel Press)
 
 
Giles Goodland
 
Darwin by Tony Lopez (Acts of Language)
The Summer of Agios Dimitrios by Peter Hughes
(Shearsman Books)
Undraining Sea by Vahni Capildeo (Egg Box Publishing)
 
 
Catherine Daly
 
luce a cavallo by Therese Bachand (Green Integer Press)
The Last 4 Things by Kate Greenstreet (Ahsahta Press)
Where Shadows Will: Selected Poems 1988 – 2008 by Norma Cole
(City Lights Books)
 
 
Tim Wells
 
Caligula on Ice and Other Poems by Tim Turnbull (Donut Press)
Poemland by Chelsey Minnis (Wave Books)
City State: New London Poetry, edited by Tom Chivers
(Penned in the Margins)
 
 
Jacqueline Saphra
 
West End Final by Hugo Williams (Faber & Faber)
Rain by Don Paterson (Faber & Faber)
Farewell My Lovely by Polly Clark (Bloodaxe Books)
 
 
Sophie Mayer
 
Undraining Sea by Vahni Capildeo (Egg Box Publishing)
The Son by Carrie Etter (Oystercatcher)
The ms of m y kin by Janet Holmes (Shearsman Books)
Cold Spring in Winter by Valérie Rouzeau, translated
by Susan Wicks (Arc Publications)
The Joshua Tales by Andra Simons (Treehouse Press)
 
 
Katy Lederer
 
Free Cell by Anselm Berrigan (City Lights Books)
Delivered by Sarah Gambito (Persea Books)
The King by Rebecca Wolff (W.W. Norton & Co.)

Some Favourite Poetry Collections of 2009: Part One

 
  
I hope you will enjoy these recommendations and consider buying a few collections, pamphlets and anthologies published this year by a range of presses. A huge thank you to the poets who gave me their choices for the year.
  
What’s your favourite volume of 2009? Feel free to include your recommendations in the comments section.
 
 
Moniza Alvi
 
Natural Mechanical by J O Morgan (CB Editions)
Cold Spring in Winter by Valérie Rouzeau, translated by
Susan Wicks (Arc Publications)
Continental Shelf by Fred D’Aguiar (Carcanet Press)
  
 
Ian Duhig
 
Rain by Don Paterson (Faber & Faber)
Grain by John Glenday (Picador)
Voice Recognition: 21 Poets for the 21st Century, edited by
Clare Pollard & James Byrne (Bloodaxe Books)
  
 
Sheenagh Pugh
  
How to Fall by Karen Annesen (Salt Modern Poets)
The Men from Praga by Anne Berkeley (Salt Modern Poets)
A Village Life by Louise Glück (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
  
 
Dorianne Laux
  
End of the West by Michael Dickman (Copper Canyon Press)
Cradle Song by Stacey Lynn Brown (C&R Press)
Snowbound House by Shane Seely (Anhinga Press)
  
 
Alison Brackenbury
 
Rain by Don Paterson (Faber & Faber)
Nothing Like Love by Jenny Joseph (Enitharmon Press)
Samuel Menashe: New and Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books)
 
 
Clare Pollard
  
Caligula on Ice and Other Poems by Tim Turnbull (Donut Press)
Third Wish Wasted by Roddy Lumsden (Bloodaxe Books)
Farewell My Lovely by Polly Clark (Bloodaxe Books)
  
 
Tamar Yoseloff
  
The Men from Praga by Anne Berkeley (Salt Modern Poets)
How to Fall by Karen Annesen (Salt Modern Poets)
Beneath the Rime by Siriol Troup (Shearsman Books)
The Clockwork Gift by Claire Crowther (Shearsman Books)
  
 
Annie Freud
  
Rain by Don Paterson (Faber & Faber)
Furniture by Lorraine Mariner (Picador)
Faber New Poets: Heather Phillipson (Faber & Faber)
  
 
John Wilkinson
  
Stress Position by Keston Sutherland (Barque Press)
Weak Link by Rob Halpern (Slack Buddha Press)
Clampdown by Jennifer Moxley (Flood Editions)
  
 
Marilyn Kallet
 
Practical Water by Brenda Hillman (Wesleyan Poetry)
Warhorses by Yusef Komunyakaa (Farrar, Straus & Giroux,
paperback)
Sassing by Karen Head (WordTech Communications)