Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

Natures of all sorts by patrick fetherston. 30p. "a tetralith quarto in association with writers forum", 262 randolph ave., london w9. massive poem that takes a cosmic view of the world, creation, death, nature itself. mimeo format.

New Headland (4) william oxley. 27 brook road, epping, essex. oxley's more free range arm of the littack empire. a neat, offset mag leading to the "development of a good miscellany" - which goes slightly against the spirit of some of oxley's previous outpourings. mainly its a hell of a dull magazine, obviously edited just from the content of the mailbox, which is certainly one of the worst ways of running a mag. oxley should stick to littack alone.
no 5 montale / toczek / flintoff / goumas / belsey / steane / shaw / kramer / ward / stanlet thomas/&c.

New Linguist (vol 1 no 8) 20p. sonic rouve. 8 wyndham place, london w1. special poetry issue edited by tony rudolf including an article on translation of poetry, together with such poets as deguy / bosley / rivero / burns / hamburger / schmidt / etc etc.

Nightbirds by jim mcclelland miller. northern poetry brokers. 36 marlborough rd, tuebrook, liverpool. neat and tiny letterpress booklet, open, pop styled, outloud reading stuff.

Nightride by nicki jackowska. 20p. aquila. 18 atherstone close, shirley, solihull. typical strange but appropriate drawings by andrzej jackowski accompany this long neo-surrealist poem by one of the redgrove school. it rips, it shouts, its worthy of publication, its not a patch on the leader of the pack himself.

A Night Square by j.h.prynne. 30p. albion village press. 28 albion drive, london e8. great production for the price, a large square book by a man who fits neatly into the "poet's poet" class. uneasy, difficult poetry, few handholds in the path of reading.

notes for a survivor by emanuel litvinoff. 40p. northern house, 58 queens rd, newcastle on tyne, a really pro,cinemascope-shaped job, handsomely produced. most of the poems are to do with the switch from war to peace & the founding of israel. the terrible enormity of events left most british poets unable to cope in language - hence the inevitable alvarez credo & the disciples of gut-hughes, laying open the wound. this is a bitter document against niceness and easy ways out, knocking off eliot (half-kindly) & best-sellers en route.strong stuff, yet as hopeless as anything else against the juggernauts of mass-destruction. It cannot redeem the six million dead. jt.

Oasis (9) 23p. ian robinson. 12 stevenage rd, london sw6. time, production and money problems force this mag to abandon its spine bound exclusiveness and return to wire. its not lost any quality inside however. a fat mag with a liking for translations and prose. this issue carries some advanced graphics and experimental poetry, the stan engel story, ehrenberg / tomazos / brown / booth / burgis / pilcher / cowell / goumas / curtis / darlington / &c.

Old Angel Midnight by jack kerouac. 30p. booklegger / albion yes, its a bootleg of kerouac's amazing sound poem prose bash. should be read by all with an interest in this area. its cheap because its a rip off. good luck and thank you. available from compendium, turret and that shop in brighton may have something to do with it.

Om by paul newbold. 5p. firebird publications. c/o the bookshop, 153 woodhouse lane, leeds 2. on-the-road, tripping, hitching, sleeping rough, love the world poems. mimeo format.

Omnivorous is a wrap round title for a series of mimeo things being put out by omnivore pubs., 17 chelsea ave, southend-on-sea.
part 1 is a prose & stencil drawing sequence in the style of opal 1. nations by kris & chris pickles.
part 2 is much the same cup of weak tea but with ill drawn but revealing nudes added.
part 3 is sub titled "teledu no 7" and collects a bunch of rather ineffectual poems by david garden, m.a.gettisburg & others together. i'd guess part 4 will be just as exciting.

Ore (18) 17p. eric ratcliffe. 7 the towers, stevenage, herts. the magazine that remembers britain as it was - druids, arthur, folklore, &c. a mixture of poems, articles plus a large review supplement. this latest issue thinner and weaker than those before.

An Oriental Affair by nigel walker. 25p. toulouse press. 14 harringay ave, liverpool. these are love poems, solidly in imitation of the chinese t'ang and japanese heian, complete with fine oriental styled illustrations. its delightful. good production, plenty of space. "send your lover a copy with a kiss / do not sign your name". yes indeed.

Ornithology & Ferry by jeremy hilton. 20p. joe dimaggio press. 6 knowle ave., bexleyheath, kent. one of joe dimaggio's largest single poet publications to date, the expected fine mimeography enhancing a long narrative poem sequence. its quite stuff, very prose like but with that little extra to justify its verse line shape. an odd one, but readable.

Ostrich (9) 15p. keith armstrong. 10 greenhaugh rd, south wellfield, whitley bay, northumberland. typewriter offset arts mag, pretty general in approach: newcastle festival interview / liliane lijn with "what is art?" / schools poems / tom gittings / kevin crowe on "proletarian culture' / lykiard / vanson / yevtushenko / & much more.
no 10 fred reed / lykiard / hikins / poems from iceland / burgis / "league of socialist artists" feature plus a free paris poems booklet by keith armstrong which is good both graphically & in the poems themselves.

Outposts (97) 25p. howard sergeant. 72 burwood rd, walton-on-thames. keeping right on the safe, quiet path, the grandfather of little mags continues on. it still, with all its years, maintains its simple small look - no flashy format from arts council money - the known & the unknown rub shoulders. its fault is its safeness, but some people like that: earley / curtis / wainwright / tong / mole / ruth fainlight / sillitoe / booth / & more.
no 98 peter cash / pudney / clothier / tibble / etc plus the usual reviews.
no 99 david holliday / hesketh / tong / mann / hendricks / binns / grubb / &c.

Overspill (6) 20p. eric harrison. 3 grantley close, shalford, surrey. "for the longer poem" mimeo format. poems are long but perhaps not long enough to justify the title. burgis / vanson / mckinley / peirse / nottage / owtrand / &c.

Palantir (1) 30p. stuart brown. 13 shalgrove field, fulwood, preston. very fine new magazine. burns / ewart / duncan glen / wood / haslam / oxley / grubb / glyn hughes / shaw / callow / booth / &c.

Pastoral by joscelin precious. 35p. outposts publications, available from hare cottage, kettlesing, harrogate, yorks. another in the pay for yourself series: traditional format and approach is one thing but this "gem of modern verse" is set in the ice age. destined to do neither poetess nor reader any good at all which is a pity, she does try.

Peak? Hour by paul eggett. 10p. omnivore pubs. 17 chelsea ave, southend-on-sea. burroughs just didnt know what he was letting himself in for, this mimeo prose piece doesnt imitate the man but the influence is there. if thats your thing then buy this. my own mind tells me that the man himself is the only one successful in that style.

Penny Poems (10) 1p. 3 dale st, leamington spa. local mimeo almost give away mag, street sold & containing the local poets plus one guest, d.m.thomas this time.
no 11 special schoolkids number.
no 12 nigel jenkins / irene bridgeman / steve broughton / & others.

People Within £2.00. thornhill press. 7 russell st, gloucester. this 260 page hard bound anthology strikes me as an unlikely event. its edited by desmond badham-thornhill "working with a committee of poets". it sounds so much like a vanity press book, but it aint. its an attempt to blend unknown crap with recognised good material, or as the editors prefer to put it, to place the unknown and the known together. i failed to see the unity within the anthology that the editors expected but did find some good poems, although they came in the main from the better known poets: abse / appleby /
p j kavanagh / robert armstrong / causley / larkin / lee / lewis-smith / plomer / roche / pickard (bill) / raine / waddington-feather / & many more.

Personal Attempts by vale (jacqueline) benson. 10p. joe dimaggio press. 6 knowle ave, bexley heath, kent. "to re-define the meaning of the word love". an odd book of tiny poems, word structures and jottings. beautifully duplicated no matter what other critics say.

Pink Peace 20p. john rice. 93 biggins wood rd, folkestone, kent. a magazine that started out on the straight and narrow and now finds itself presenting quite a variety of useful work. it calls itself an "arts" mag. it isnt. its poetry. good use of graphics and neat production.
no 7 paul brown / jim burns / steane / nations /  burgis / curtis / nixon / moses / hannah hobsbaum on sylvia plath / supplement section of the drawings of john eveleigh / etc.
no 8 shuttle / toczek / booth / warren / gerda mayer / photography section / raymond seaford prose / etc.

Pintle (1) 20p. charles bulbeck, blue room pubs, emmanuel college, cambridge. first of a series of neat letterpress mags devoted to the work of one or two writers. this issue has thomas a clark and omar pound, both in restrained mood.

Places by shaun mccarthy. 45p. hippopotamus press. 26 cedar rd, sutton, surrey. nature poetry mixed with typically unformed citified meanderings. not too strong a first book but the talent is there.

Platform (6) 15p. andrew cozens. avalon, london rd, stockbridge, hamps. really on the up this one, its small but printed & tight. wide ranging editorial choice. reviews didnt make it into this issue but news is that no 7 will be all reviews & news: baxter / rudolf / goumas / leale / rice / pitcher / hiIton / chopin / burns / paul brown / joris / kelly / selby / mayer / buttress / & others.

Poems by robin hamilton. 30p. eboracum. derwent college, univ of york, heslington. hamilton is a young scottish poet with a combination of guts, knowledge, craft and understanding. sounds almost too good to be true. he turns a good poem, an exact poem, a knowledgeable poem. its too soon in the day to point his direction, there are faults here certainly, but promise certainly.. couldnt he have thought of a better title though?

Poems by d.jarvis. good elf pubs. 18 clairview rd, london sw16. best good elf production to date with this ripple language set by a member of the bec poets.

Poems as of then. by harry kemp. £1.50. old hall, high nibthwaite, nr ulverston, lancs. a private print job by the poets, letterpress production, hardbound - a perfect vehicle for the deep rooted old tradition poems kemp is so good at. its the old style, but done well.

Poems for Jane by dave calder.10p. poet & peasant books. flat A, 38 walsworth rd, hitch in, herts. streetword metamorphosis, much the same production though. dave calder is a good poet, with this smallset its the love affair, the break up, the return. no slop. strong poetry.

Poems for Shakespeare 2 edited by graham fawcett. 40p. globe playhouse trust. 40 bankside, liberty of the clink, london se1. a series of poems based on shakespeare's works, however vague a connection, commissioned by the shakespeare birthday fund and published as a trim and value for money paperback. unlike the first volume this one contains a mixture of established as well as brand new poems: ted hughes / soyinka / schmidt / milton / guest / keats / ted walker / hamburger / tennyson / dunn / heaney / gray / & others.

Poems for shortie by pets morgan. 20p. aquila / the phaethon press. 18 atherstone close, shirley, solihull. jim green's best title yet, and its not pets morgan typical either. short sharp poems, poempuns, jokes, quips, surrealistic jerks, drawings, neo concrete, insanity, dada, gesture, - hilarious, memorable, dramatic. what else can you say. pets morgan never told me he was like this inside.

poems of ivor gurney 1890-1937. £2. chatto & windus, london. gurney cropped up in larkin's recent oxford anthology, a ghost from the past. his ouput was small, only two volumes in his lifetime - "severn & somme" (1917: about his beloved gloucester & his experiences as an infantryman on the western front in world war 1) & "war's embers" (1919). then he fell silent except for pieces in the old, now-defunct lit. mags. in london. he was also a composer, writing two song-cycles based on housman's "shropshire lad." the neglect he suffered was doubtless due to the 15 rough years he spent as a patient in a mental hospital. dark moods of extreme anguish are expressed in some later poems of his deprivation of freedom in an asylum & the long torture of incarceration, to which is added his resentment that a man who fought for king & country, & was wounded & gassed, should be so ill-rewarded & totally forgotten. technically, his work is fairly verbally complex, his influences being mainly gerard manley hopkins & edward thomas, who were both a bit ahead of their times. Gurney wrote: "The times were not of making but of swift terrible waste." he was one of the walking wounded, a physical & spiritual casualty of that bloody shambles of 1914-18. the trenches killed him off as much anything else. jt.

Poems to the Passing by paul berry. a fiasco free booklet (send large sae). 31 belle vue st, filey, e yorks. a little unsteady, a questioning poet, open a good deal. worth watching.

Poesies... from a hovel by kenneth frederic taylor. monolith books. 30 chestnut grove, new malden, surrey. a neo-traditional romanticism, style thick with wordage, heavy use of french. it clogs slightly, could do with a good brushout. but beneath the fluf lurks something...

Poetry Information (7) sub 50p. peter hodgkiss. 17 carlingford rd, london nw3. the mimeo mag of poetry reviewletts on magazines, small press books etc. this issue features the largest round up to date plus a longer "feature" on tarasque & beau geste presses, a poetry index of abstracts, and a list of further info sources. poetry info's problem is its coverage, a recent grant from the greater london arts association will now provide the money for larger and more frequent issues. requests by peter hodgkiss are now going out to all for review copies, what ever is sent will be listed.
no 8 grant aid arrives, bigger, colourful cover, the usual features plus horovitz's unpublished letters / lawrence upton in poland (well written indeed) / & on.

The Poetry Library of the Arts Council of Great Britain 105 piccadilly, london w1 has just produced a catalogue of its contents, available free from ACGB. it shows a reasonably comprehensive selection in the mainstream field but some very odd selections in other categories. concrete poetry is almost forgotten while anglo-welsh literature is represented in a much fragmented state. A bit more money should be spent on this library to bring it up to scratch.

Poetry of the circle in the square (15) 10p. bill pickard. bristol arts centre, king sq., bristol 2. members poetry, mimeo format: abe adams / pettit / oram / beake / hobday / pickard / etc.

Poetry One (1973) jill potter & stuart ogilvy. the magazine of poetry one workshop group. due to resume publication under the name "assegai" from 4 brook cottages, little burstead, billericay. a small print, superneat letterpress mall of guests & members. all over the place standard with a leaning to the quiet steady poem: abse / bertolla / tribe / stanley thomas / jaffin / connors / tully potter / mason / holloway / & many more. 30p a copy.

Poetry Review (vol 64 no 1) 40p. eric mottram. the poetry society. 21 earls court sq, london sw5. the quietest, softest issue of this monster to date, under mottram's guidance that is. but even when mottram slows the pace its still one of the best and most exciting magazines the uk has to offer. a tidy, well balanced set of contributors from home, the states, the knowns and the unknowns. the style of the mag is to give each poet a fair amount of space to move in and to print that space well. its worked again here: roy fisher / enslin / hugo williams / elaine feinstein / frances horovitz / ulli mccarthy / stuart montgomery / koch / doug lang / thomas meyer & jonathen williams / jeremy hilton / & others.
vol 64 no 2 finlay / feinstein / tipton / catling / padgett / macsweeney / berrigan / selby / koller / 7c.
vol 64 no 3 and the excitement builds again: hollo / nations / guest / booth / dipalma / pete morgan / jim burns / gogarty / torrance / pacey / simms / saroyan / schjeldahl / paul evans / & others.

Poets - Why Pay to Publish by malcolm payne. 45p. pv publications. 4 wealden close, crowborough, sussex. a hand book for the "aspiring/emerging poet". mostly its good advice but there are a few points i would certainly argue with - all of "some poetry donts" are wrong or open to argument. the how to publish advice is good, the how to write stuff should be ignored.

Poets & Poetry (1) 20p. m.a.gettisburg & a markievicz. 6a culver st, colchester, essex. not an original title for a new mag but it does describe its content. mimeo format, the usual littlemag crew, a few new names, a few surprises, uneven all over. but its a first issue. upton / cairncross / steane / oxley / steve morris / stanley thomes / philip jenkins / lenihan / etc.
No 3 sneyd / nixon / oxley / egleton / pilcher / cairncross / steane / conners / &c.

Positive/Negative by andrew darlington. 5p. collection 2. 50 upper brow rd, paddock, hudds. mimeo format. poems, prose poems, fiction all merging together.

Prayers by george macbeth. 20p. aquila pamphlet poetry 12. 18 atherstone close, shirley, solihull. typical macbeth with mainly insect and animal poems, a touch of humour, of love, of hate. a few failures but mainly hitting target. not outstanding for the poet but pretty good by most standards in the small press world. another aquila goodie.

Project for a Revolution in New York by alain robbe-grillet, trans. by richard howard. £2.50. calder & boyars, london. arch-experimenter robbe-grillet, the french wonderboy, comes up with another oblique, difficult puzzler like a tough erudite crossword in the "observer". the plot, or non-plot, has no logical sequence, as usual, but a narrator survives from start to finish. a girl, laura, has a zipper down to her navel & her mind stuck in her lower slit. a typical r-g maze, the procedure is jumpily cinematic in the manner of the latest wave of american tv crime movies: he asks for very flexible readers who can twist & turn in the labyrinth like himself, yielding to what lies below the chaotic surface. the narrator goes to a group underground meeting in new york where he's told that the three major aspects of successful revolution are rape, arson & murder. there are plenty of these, & their frequent recurrence form a reading-guide through the "novel." actions are often comic, like the keystone-cop racing of two men, in turn, down the steps of a house; almost everyone has double identities. the pages give off the high stink of intrigue, double- & triple-crosses, threats, messy violence, obscenity & fright. one of the worst episodes is the burning of a model's pubic hair - it's actually horse-hair from a mattress, but the imagination still boggles. r-g fans will like this, his further-out graffiti capturing the multiplication of monotonies in a big city as well as the fear & comedy.a dependable, capricious eccentric, he goes his own way, mixing with relish the farce & the agony of our time. jt.

Prospice (1) 40p. jcr green / michael edwards / martin booth. aquila. 18 atherstone close, shirley, solihull. a new. spine bound, academic based poetry journal dealing in criticism and comment, in analysis of form and movement together with the publishing of a selection of new poetry. the printing of this issue leaves a little to be desired yet its content is vastly better than its nearest competitor, michael schmidt's blinkered "poetry nation". cid corman on "the making of a voice" / michael edwards "the space of the poem" / tomlinson's notebooks & paintings / lengthy reviews plus poems from macbeth / redgrove / bly / shuttle / grubb / etc plus a large selection of poetry in translation. The overall feel is that a good mag is brewing here but i do have reservations about the poetry selected, it has a tendency to be a mix of the expected good guys and the godawful. roll on issue 2

Radix (2) 20p. malc payne. 4 wealden close, crowborough, sussex. this is the mag of poets vigilantes, an organization that sets out to fight the vanity presses, to help new poets by showing them the scene so to speak, by pointing out the pits & traps. its a fine idea, an organization that every little mag in the uk should support. who else is going to tell poets that saes are essential and that to buy the odd magazine now and again will help both poet and press. fine. but why do they have to mess it up by publishing such a rough and scrappy magazine themselves. let the poets find failure a little more, its the one true way to make them give up or become better - and god knows-there are too many "poets" about these days as it is.
no 3 neil mcneil / sneyd / nigel jenkins / s.t.gardiner / greg venables / &c.

Random Reflections by cyril donson. 30p. hub publications ltd, youlgrave, bakewell, derbys. detective writer turns poet in this neat if overcrowded booklet. much rhyme, prosepoems, miniatures in word. its odd stuff with a ring of confidence to it.

Real Smart by david garden. 10p. horace walpole productions. the red house, whitehill rd, hitchin, herts. another reprint of "desiderata" introduces another mimeo set of codswallop.

Reclaimed Land by paul brown. 15p. arc pubs., 11 byron rd, gillingham, kent. another fine arc job here - brown in short terse form, clips from larger movies. its adapted chance work, although a new brown reader could never see it.

Reindeermoss by duncan tweedale. green horse publications. 13 windsor house, lawn street, winchester, hants. reworkings of the "kalevala" which is a kind of national epic of finland. tweedale translates and adapts, provides full notes on the lapland landscape & people and in all has presented a fascinating and unique poem document. mimeo format.

Relations by laurence bicknell. 50p. albion village press. 28 albion drive, london e8. a tiny yet dark booklet. bicknell describes his family via oil paintings, painted x-ray photos, small poems, showers of words and snapshots. its one of the most unusual epics this year.

Report From the Desert by roland john. 45p. hippopotamus press. 26 cedar rd, sutton, surrey. a very well printed and quite well worked first booklet.

Road to Kabul by mike ramsden. 45p. workshop new poetry 22. 2 culham court, granville rd, london n4. "In the spring of '71, he (the poet) deposited his wife at her place of work then drove south. . . ." reaching turkey and then returning. these are the poems of the journey, fascinating as a travelogue. neat production, of course.

Rocky Mountains & Tired Indians by kris hemensley. 15p. joe dimaggio press. 6 knowle ave, bexleyheath, kent. produced in conjunction with grosseteste thus the non mimeo format. its a short booklet of typical hemensley musings, cryptic & intense.

Roll The Union On! edited by sylvia hikins. £1.50. toulouse press. 14 harringay ave, liverpool L18 1JE. "an anthology of merseyside sights and sounds, in celebration of the 125th anniversary of the liverpool trades council". it is in fact a superbly produced 112 page hardbound anthology of poetry and photographs based on liverpool. editor sylvia hikins approaches her job with a "poetry for the people" theme in mind, and what better area of poetry to draw upon than liverpool to bear this theme out. its a good, comprehensive book, all liverpool's pop and not so pop songster poets are here: henri / mcgough / simpson / patten / hoddes / mcgrath / mike evans / david ward / nigel walker / mitchell / hill / pete roche / mike hart / mangnall / plus street rhymes, chants etc (but no brian wake?). overall its a pretty good £1.50 worth.

Sandwiches (1) 15p. gb carter. 66b whitstable rd, canterbury. rough shod mimeo, a brash approach to a funny mag. cairncross / john rice / twp james / tina kulker / & others.
no 3 continues to run bad poems amidst a welter of funnies and near funnies. mimeo.

Sceptre Press run by martin booth, 15 keats way, rushden northants keeps up the barrage of luxury print broadsheets of single poems and booklets of longer items. "widow" by susan schaeffer, "late march" david jaffin, "the flower" michael butler & william elliott's "flood" are broadsheets while "poems thanks to zuckerkandl" is a booklet by cid corman. sceptres second batch of broadsheets, at 15p each unsigned, includes pete didsbury's "running", hugh lauder's "spring", penelope shuttles "moon meal", john cotton's "preludes: san martin", tony rudolf's translation of petru popescu's "bough", christopher hampton's "elegy for leopardi's moon", david grubb's "caligula" and yannis ritsos in translation by john stathatos with "contradictions". added to the series are martin booth's own card bound broadsheet "in her hands" and a new, small george dowden booklet "poem for jayne" @ 45p. more broadsheets: "as-shamsu" by eric sellin, "a hunted christian" by ian caws, "moonchild" by derek telling, "the moonstone" by alan marshfield, "actaeon" by maureen duffy, & "shooting .a squirrel" by norbert krapf. new booklets: "herman's poems" by john matthias, "three poems" by cid corman & "looking at it" by william bronk.

Schmuck 70p. is a magazine edited by david mayor and put out by beau geste press, langford court south, cullompton, devon. each issue covers the very fron of the avant garde in a variety of countries, generally not in the art world news. this issue is hungary. production fits the content with its delicate combination of letterpress, mimeo & offset. the art is mainly concept: bela hap's meta-language, gabor attalai's date stamps, agnes hay with comics, gyula pauers pseudo manifest's, & much more. text is english. a mag for insights.

science for people is the journal of the british society for social responsibility in science. edited by chris ryan it costs 10p from 9 poland st, london w1. the journal wishes to broaden its horizons and as they put it "come alive" and requests prose-poems in the area of "sci-techy-art-people" plus anything else anyone might care to contribute.
no 21 big article on chile / third london airport / book reviews / news / &c.
no 22 riot control / the radicalisation of scientists / etc.
no 23 icl in south africa / is there an energy crisis? / labours programme for britain 1973 / etc.

Scrip (43) 15p. david holliday. 67 hady cres, chesterfield, derbys. a kind of mimeo outposts: strachan / hendricks / beardsley / parvin / hebron / tribe / warren / cook / land / &c.
no 44 final issue of this long lived mimeo: booth / vanson / shaw / mckinley / rowe / pilcher / jaffin / &c.

A Sea Story by gael turnbull. 10p. byways. hedda's cottage. arkesden, saffron walden, essex. another new addition to the ranks of expensive single page broadsheet publishers. the poems okay and so is the printing but at 10p - no.

Selected Opera by earl. excello & bollard. 66b whitstable rd, canterbury. foolscap mimeo of poems that read like the lyrics of very bad songs.

The Sense On't by fred reed. 40p. northern house. 58 queens rd, newcastle-upon-tyne. the basics of life in a rolling dialect poetry. complete with notes, glossary & tidy print.

Sesheta (5) 50p. richard downing. 32 pinfold lane, skerton, lancaster. the last magazine issue from this powerful press (individual collections will continue). its a pretty good selection and sad to see it end: loose / maillard / f. horovitz / selby / wieners / harwood / hilton / eshleman's vallejo / haslam / schaeffer / &c.

The Shaft by d.m.thomas. 25p. arc. 11 byron rd, gillingham, kent. a long poem built around the tin mines of cornwall, their people, d.m.thomas' people, the memories and associations, mixing in with a present day persona. illustrated by alan davies, superb production for a cheap booklet. very satisfying.

Silhouette in Rainbow Garden by paul brown. 15p. transgravity press / man ray dog rocket society. 47 northwall rd, deal, kent. more new dada with illustrations by antonio claudio carvalho.

Sinister Vintage by richard yates. 10p. trouser press. 3 dale st, leamington spa. printed cover (nifty cover photo) and clear mimeo insides. 10 poems from africa and europe.

Site (Such a) by tony rickaby. 90p. 67 mordaunt st, london sw9. theres no denying the quality of this small books production, nor the largeness of the price either. a pity because it contains some classic observations of the small things, actions, stances to be found in our violent urban society. a good one.

Sixpack (3/4) 50p. pierre joris. 34 stanhope gdns, london sw7. getting to be one of the best little mags around: large page, litho print, spine bound, a flowing mix of the new british, the steady voices of america, the mixed nationals with heavy words. really fine issue from cover to cover: robert kelly / bob kaufman / jack kerouac / jeff nuttall / john giorno / allen fisher / claude pelieu / andrei codrescu / bill griffiths / doug lang / bill  sherman / eric mottram / & more.

skywords by derek telling. 18p. driftwood publications, 58 exeter rd, bootle, lancs. a fair collection, too loose in parts, words flung to the wind. (oh discipline, where art thou? bring back even your elementary lessons.) the author edited the poetry mag Imprint with someone else, & helped out with the hydrogen jukebox show performing in schools, pubs & clubs. no doubt his stuff is fine for reading aloud, but on the page it suffers. jt.

Special Branch by stefan themserson. gaberbocchus press. 42a formosa st, london w9. subtitled "a dialogue" this tidy paperback novel hides a philosophical work out. themserson is good at the nietzsche styled venture of hiding the one thing within the other. special branch deals with the problems, thought wise, in inventing some kind of super-machine brain the sf writers often use.

St Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio or Brother Francis' Lamb Chops by stefan themserson. gaberbocchus press. 42a formosa st, london w9. "an opera in two acts", well perhaps it is, the words and music are here together with a collection of pen drawings, some very odd typography not to speak of the fact that the music itself twists into swirls on some of the pages. basic detail of the story is typically moral and philosophical. quite a book.

Straight (9) 10p. john townson. 50 upper brow rd, paddock, huddersfield. a mimeo format u/g styled alternative lifestyle magazine that has managed to stand the test of time, and for this kind of publication that must mean something. report on food contents / long peter jessop poem / rubbish disposal / cartoons / james bland fiction / alex kernaghan fiction / more drugs / etc.

Strange Powers by colin wilson. £2.80. h.back. latimer. 104 earls court rd, london w8. a very interesting postscript to wilson's "the occult". the account of three people who possess occult powers. robert leftwich is a dowser, eunice beattie writes spirit messages, and dr arthur girdham believes that in a previous existence he belonged to a 13thC religious sect called "the cathars". i recommend this book to anyone who believes that there is more to life than just surviving on the mundane plane of existence. the theme is common to most of wilson's works: the outsider can see the errors of a society governed by greed, corruption, war and hate. (barry edger pilcher)

Strath (2) 10p. michael park & neil mcneil. 1 buttermere close, bletchley, milton keynes. small mimeo mag of "rannoch gillamoor poets", whoever they are, its pretty ordinary with two small mag regulars, connors & sneyd, added.
no 3 david angus / goodsir / cox / calcutt / & others plus reviews.

Summer Coming the school of art, 7 hatfield rd, st albans. "collected poems from st albans school of art by students, staff & visitors". a small illustrated set including jeremy hooker / john fuller / philip pacey / george macbeth / edwin morgan / & others.

Suttle Sculpture by paul burwell. mirliton pubs. 15 bayonne rd, london w6. "the art of creating forms in four dimensions, revealing the nature of materials in sound, the visible aspects of which contribute the lesser part of the work". texts, experiments & scores of a new music. burwell bangs things. he does it well. his largest and most interesting theory book to date.

Telegrams from the Midnight Country by elaine randell. blacksuede boot press. 53 ramillies rd, blackfen, sidcup, kent. elaine randell, wife of barry macsweeney, has been perfecting her poetry for some time and is now in a position to give em stick as they say, she's uneven at the best of times but can certainly turn an image to good use. uneasy, unusual poetry. well worth seeking out.

Teller by martin booth. 20p. poet & printer. 44 westview drive, woodford green, essex. a small booklet of 4 poems in typical booth style, a kind of new english mysticism full of wind, rain, the creatures of history, the back of booths head. its vibrant.

The Things We Did For Jenny by chris pickles. 10p. omnivore pubs. 17 chelsea ave, southend-on-sea. dope, sex and mysticism confused together in a bunch of mimeographed and uneventful prose. striking cover though.

Thistle Brilliant Morning translations from the japanese by  william j higginson. 23p. byways press. hedda's cottage, arkesden, saffron walden, essex. fine haiku, crisp & clear, as is the print & production. a good one.

TIR-NA-NOG & ... To Remember by brian walters. aquila pub.co., solihull, warwicks. unpriced. two pamphlets of mixed quality. the first could have had a better title, i feel - it's about "a mortal's desire for a release from his environment of habituated apathy & his determination to enter into an earthly TIR-NA-NOG.  it also tells of the celt born in exile." it was first performed at the dudley arts festival this year with three voices & a jazz quartet. the title means "otherworld" in celtic mythology, a place of supreme happiness, rich in natural delights, unpleasantness non-existent, music & feasting unlimited day & night. i wish i could find that place. walters' companion booklet is inspired by the 14th-century Welsh bard dafydd ap gwilym, with some of his settings adapted & part-translated. both works show an intelligent use of english, a trifle flowery. jt.

To Walsingham At Easter by clifford nicholas. 15p. aquila: the phaethon press. 18 atherstone close, shirley, solihull. small rough shod book of religious satire poetry.

Transatlantic Review (46/7) 25p. j.f.mccrindle. 33 ennismore gdns, london sw7. the cheapest mag on the market. 260 pages here, the bulk of which carry high class fiction from such as alan spence / wes magee / stephen koch / philip damon / clive sinclair / pamela ali / & many others. the large poetry section in this issue is one of the last edited by the late b.s.johnson & includes holub / marshfield / hooker / hardiment / finch / fainlight / rudolf / &c.
no 48 erotica award winners: diana athill / bryn griffiths / ewart etc plus hoida / curtis / wheway / knox / papaleo / hogan / richard burton talking &c. a good issue.

Transgravity Press run by paul brown from 47 northwall, deal, kent has begun a series of short, neat, letterpress booklets in a numbered series. the first series of 10 can be subscribed to at £1.40 or individual titles may be had at 20p plus postage. the first batch includes phil jenkins "the birth of venus", "six poems" by akiko yosano, translated from the japanese by david cevet, "seven poems" by elaine randell, "six poems" translated from the sanskrit by david cevet and "der triumphzug" by ulli mccarthy. the whole series is a complete departure for the TGA that was, and not as good as the old days really. poems are all terse, short and obscure, none are visual, none show the old dada leanings. but neat, yes they are certainly neat.

Transplants by tony dash. 20p. driftwood pubs. 58 exeter rd, bootle, lancs. another neat production good value booklet in brian wake's series of underrated liverpool based poets. tony dash, the one time editor of asylum, was always more active in the visual arts than in poetry although in this set he displays an easy open conversational style that is not lacking in quality. a liverpool book on the edge of pop but not falling right in.

Turpin (6) 8 thoday st, cambridge. another change of format for this mag. here it comes inside a paul smith silkscreen cover and takes the form of your standard mimeo mag. three poets only are featured and they are all worth reading: michael haslam with his "all blue chickens go to goldgold", "the last 10 poems of marine life" by peter riley & some interesting prose ramblings by martin wright. a good issue.

Twickenham Eyot edited by brian louis pearce. 40p. the quarto press. 69 swan rd, feltham, m'sex. quiet old styled production of the college poets of twickenham college of technology. the tidy production seems to please more than the poems themselves.

Typewriter Art "half a century of experiment" is an exhibition catalogue for the typewriter poems exhibition organized by alan riddell for the new 57 gallery, 105 rose st, edinburgh. the worldwide field is covered, and covered well. the mimeo catalogue containing numerous visual examples of the kind of things being (or been) done.

Vancouver Mainland Ice and Cold Storage by bill bissett. 25p. writers forum. 262 randolph ave, london w9. an unusual book, an unusual writer. bissett is an up-front man on the edge of most things, with this set a total picture of his activities evolves, but slowly. its fascinating in its own strange way, bissett poem raving, typewriter pictures, concrete (almost) scribbles, letters. at first i was unimpressed - another madman indulging himself - after living with the thing for a time i began to see bob cobbing's point in publishing jt.

Vietnam Courier ed robert sheppard. 15 oakapple road, southwick, sussex. mimeo 6th form school mag full of typical 6th form humour plus a strong interest in george caircross and concrete & sound poetry.

The Village Review (3) 20p. quenten lane. lapboards, newport, essex. offset reduced typewriter magazine of poetry, mainly the typical small mag kind with nothing too exciting going on: radnoti / beardsley / cashford / faulkner / pilcher / light / grubb / austin / henderson-smith / & others.

Voice by owen davis. 30p. gr/ew books. 10 consort cres, commonside, pensnett, staffs. small press booklets are getting better everyday, first prize for production on this one with its illustrations, gloss wrapover cover and paper. these are mainly short poems by a man good at the long narrative style. as a result there is a failing, but not bad all the same.

Vorticegarden by b.catling. albion village press. 28 albion drive, london e8. good print job on this small square book of myth, science fiction and personal agony.

A Walk around the City and other Groans by jonathan morgan jones. £1.00. 43 new cornbrook park rd, old trafford, manchester. an unusual item this, a book that seems to sum city life up in its totality: the football, the girls, the lays, the parties, fastcars, drunks, drugs, houses, people, events, the grime, the humour. its all here, told well and accurately, even entertainingly, yes even that. the pity is that it isnt poetry. the spark does not ignite. if you read it as chopped prose with the odd rhyme or two, then you are okay - as that it works and as that i would recommend it.

Warrior of the Icenian Queen by eric ratcliffe. 50p. ore publications. 7 the towers, stevenage, herts. ratcliffe on typical form with a mythical, epical story of boadicea or "voadicia" as the poet has it. if its your interest then ratcliffe scores.

WF100 (also serving as issue 6 of And magazine) edited by bob cobbing & john rowan. 30p. writers forum. 262 randolph ave, london w9. when a mimeo press reaches 100 publications it is quite an event and this is just what has happened here - bob cobbing's writers forum, a press that grew out of a poets meeting, has managed 100 mimeo publications, many of them still in print, and all of them very well produced via typewriter and electric stencil. in recent years the press has devoted itself to concrete, sound & experimental poetry - publishing the otherwise unpublishable in fact. it has done a good service, never lacking excitement for a moment. to celebrate this unusual event a reading / party was organized and new work commissioned from the expected participants: WF100 is the superb result, stefan themerson / lee harwood / bill butler / lilly greenham / peter finch / eric mottram / jeff nuttall / peter mayer / dsh / islwyn watkins / tom a clark / jennifer cobbing / criton tomazos / patrick fetherston / michelene wandor / brian gould / ulli mccarthy / john rowan / jeremy adler / paula claire / bob cobbing / bill griffiths. quite a line up. a second aeon award of the year for dynamism in small press production, & i hear that a signed edition is in the pipeline too.

What I Own "versions of holderlin vol 2" by john riley & tim longville. £1.00 p/back, £3.00 bound. gr/ew books. 10 consort cres., pensnett, staffs. holderlin the mad poet of tongue & image. superb flowing poetry here in modern translation "version" by two poets who seem to know just how to phrase a thing. delux production.

White Tripe (Omnivore Part 4) by chris pickles. 10p. 17 chelsea ave, southend on sea. mimeo nudes, crude drawing, everything revealed.

Wizuhu*cries*mice.up.in.nests by criton tomazos. writers forum no 99, 262 randolph ave, london w9. after saying those deserved nice things about WF 100 its sad to run WF99 down, but it has to be done. this one is a bunch of cards bearing some kind of blue smudge work & contained in an envelope. hardly inventive but certainly unpublishable.

The Wolverhampton Wanderer by mike horovitz. £1.50. latimer new dimensions limited, 4 alwyne villas, london n1. something of a colourful blockbuster from the surprising clever boy, who startles us every now & then with his sweep, energy, erudition & terrific wit. if horovitz hadn't existed, someone would have had to invent him probably a combination of billy wright & spike milligan. this thick glossy is crammed, jam-packed, steaming-up with vitality like the soccer team whose title it takes. 120 pages of very free verse, photos & drawings - the lay-out itself must have taken a year. incredible production. horovitz says its the definitive version of his most ambitious poem-sequence to date, and i can believe it. it's the upshot of three years' intricate pruning & extensions since it began on a train, going to a reading at Wolverhampton art school. horovitz is steeped in eng. lit., from before chaucer & onward. he came to cardiff "no walls" once and blew some of us sideways with his non-stop flow. we had a curry later, and still he didn't stop. precocious & absolutely incorrigible, this amazing slice of cake is his big one. jt.

Wolves at the Door by mike dobbie. 10p. poet & peasant. 8 findhorn ave, hayes, middsex. long poem, maybe dobbies best to date with drawings by nick james & jeff nuttall. mimeo format.

Words Etcetera (vol 2 no 1) jumian nangle & hans fletcher. £2.00. words press. high st, haslemere, surrey. the first and last hardbound issue of this "miscellany" - the binding is cheap & very nasty, the letterpress reasonable and the content uneven. its also overpriced for a 46 page book: kirkup / booth / oxley / connors / kemp / char / milligan / pudney / rudolf / etc.

Workshop New Poetry (20) 30p. norman hidden. 2 culham court, granville rd, london n4. the old magazine certainly breaking out with its new title & new print style. the best of the new styled issues this new one with jack clemo / magee / david grubb / hacker / alan jackson / plus an interesting introduction to ian hamilton finlay by the editor plus a small selection of recent visual boat poems. a good all round 30p worth here.
no 21 paul roche / dm thomas / leale / couzyn / finlay / curtis / rowe / schools / wisker / etc.
no 23 another good issue leading off with "kryptos" on the poetry scene, ian hamilton finlay on one word poems plus work from mozley / hacker / upton / tong / & others.

World Without Beginning Amen by michael bullock. 35p. oasis books. 12 stevenage rd, london sw6. a reprint of early classic bullock poems. again a fine production.

Xenia (2) peter & ginny barnfield. 15 ladman rd, bristol bs14 8qh. 15p. the editors of this small, neat magazine are brilliant graphic designers, filling the pages with some very clever ideas indeed plus a superb cartoon. its a pity that the general standard of the poetry is so dull - however they now ask for contributions from further afield. this issue has abe adams / robin lloyd / alison bielski / bill pickard / & others.
no 3 adams / lloyd / pickard / eaude / bielski / beake / stennett / &c. good design.