“Stranger, Baby”, by Emily Berry

The first thing that struck me was that the author started her book with a quote from Freud; one that states how strange must be when one loses one’s mother. Besides, the book finished in the acknowledgements saying that the volume was dedicated to the memory of her mother. All this said, one can understand that these poems deal with a great sense of loss. That is exactly what we have here. Outstanding and heartbreaking, in my opinion, “Aqua”, “New Project”, “The photo that is most troubling is the one I don’t want to show you” and “Canopy”, this last one with her depiction of a talk between her and some trees which give her instant warmth –unforgettable–. Published by Faber & Faber (2017), this is Berry’s second book.

“Pioneers in the Study of Motion”, by Susan Briante

The author spent five years living and working in Mexico City and this fact can be clearly perceived in the bulk of this poetry book: Aztec references, commentaries about the border between Mexico and the United States and mentions to the economic differences that set two worlds apart, for example. Later, the “motion” of the title guides the reader, as emigration, to many places, such as Kinshasa or Kanpur, and to many other cities inside the United States, such as Miami, Tulsa, Chicago or Boston, with roads as a common imagen in many of the poems. I loved that this volume –as, for example, “The Market Wonders” (Ahsahta Press, 2016)– provides many figures: miles, dollars, statistics, which give the reader an overwhelming sense of reality. “Pioneers in the Study of Motion” was published in 2007 by Ahsahta Press (Boise State University – Boise, Idaho).

“Ten Poems about London”. Selected and Introduced by George Szirtes

In this amazingly designed pamphlet, we can find the voice of classic and contemporary poets. I especially enjoyed “Underground”, by Elizabeth Bartlett, with her understanding of commuters’ behaviour, “Homecoming”, by Elaine Feinstein, with her relying on senses such as sight or smell, and “The Capital”, by Sarah Wardle, with its direct and sharp description of some of the highlights of the city. This little jewel of sixteen pages was published in 2011 by Candlestick Press and it is now in its third reprint. It is introduced by poet George Szirtes, who also includes here his “Trojan Horse”, a poem about both his childhood and some nostalgic and evocative moments of wandering around the metropolis at that time. A compilation to be kept close.

“The Dog of Memory”, by Helen Farish

As I was reading this poetry book, I reached page 41, where “Rough Guide to Vienna” is, and I had to stop for several days to digest its blow. I could not believe how on earth I was expecting something delightful and pleasant, though. But I was. Until I got to that page I was relaxed. And suddenly, I was transported to the harsh images of Jews persecution during the thirties of last century. Many of the poems included in these pages leave you equally speechless, such as “HMS Affray”, where a parallelism is made with a British submarine accident occurred during the WWII. There are jewels such as “Cahier” or “Storm, Bavaria”, which are going to be, for sure, a pleasure to re-read, indeed. This collection was published on 29^th September 2016 by Bloodaxe.

“Falling Awake”, by Alice Oswald

After hearing her in a video online reciting her poem “A Short Story of Falling”, which she delivered in Toronto in 2017 when receiving the International Griffin Poetry Prize for the poetry collection “Falling Awake”, one cannot but to go to the book and read it aloud too. However, of course, the result is not the same. Her voice, her tone and her musicality are just simply perfect. Apart from that, the collection in which this poem is included is utterly impressive. Check, for example, “Swan” and “Fox" and their analogies with a plane-crash and a thief, respectively. An utterly amazing creativity! The book was published in 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company.

“Night Photograph”, by Lavinia Greenlaw

I loved the atmosphere created in the poem about the very busy London docks. There, in “River History”, you can follow many of the stories that the Thames holds, from the 17^th century to the shooting of an expensive film nowadays. And, apart from that, one should pay special attention to those poems devoted to science, which includes “The Innocence of Radium” and “For the First Dog in Space”. Both utterly fantastic and thought-provoking. Poet and novelist Lavinia Greenlaw has, among many other achievements, that of being the first artist-in-residence in the Science Museum (London). This paperback edition was published in 2016 by Faber & Faber. The work was first published in 1993 by the same publisher. 

“The Radio”, by Leontia Flynn

At moments, you are taken to Belfast 1970’s. If you want so, this would be a very good choice. Reading the poem The Radio –which gives its title to the whole poetry book– resonates in your mind like the troubles of the violent years, where fire was on the streets. Today is different; as the book –her fourth–, which show us also the consequences of the Internet in our lives or includes quotations from the Wikipedia. Flynn works at the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry at Queen’s University (Belfast) and belongs to a new generation of poets who I could not recommend enough. It is by Published by Wake Forest University Press (2018).