Here’s my round-up of the year’s poetry. I’m sure I’ve missed out things I’ll later remember, but it will have to do.
Best Poetry Collections published in 2006
After – Jane Hirshfield (Bloodaxe)
Bad Shaman Blues – W. N. Herbert (Bloodaxe)
Best Poetry Books read in 2006 (but not published then)
The Emperor’s Babe – Bernardine Evaristo (Penguin)
New and Selected Poems – Philip Levine (Knopf)
The Good Neighbour – John Burnside (Cape)
Lives of the Animals – Robert Wrigley (Penguin)
Each Happiness Ringed by Lions – Jane Hirshfield (Bloodaxe)
Scattering Eva – James Sheard (Cape)
Twenty-Three Poems – Michael Mackmin (HappenStance)
Books Published in 2006 I haven’t read yet, but want to soon
Orpheus – Don Paterson [versions of Rilke] (Cape)
District and Circle - Seamus Heaney (Faber and Faber)
Tyrannosaurus Rex versus the Corduroy Kid - Simon Armitage (Faber and Faber)
Horse Latitudes - Paul Muldoon (Faber and Faber)
Favourite Poems Published in 2006
Found Audience – Sarah Wardle (Poetry Review)
Fire – George Szirtes (in his blog, around July/August, I think)
Favourite Poem read in 2006 (but not published then)
Bear Dreams – Robert Wrigley
Favourite Poem posted to a Workshop
Paper Dolls – Paula Grenside (during NaPoWriMo)
Favourite Poetry Magazines
Poetry Review
The Red Wheelbarrow
Favourite Poetry Webzines
nthposition
Blackbird
Most Cringe-Inducing Comments on Poetry
One of the judges of the Forward Prize calling Sean O’Brien’s (very good) winning poem “as close as it is possible to come to a perfect poem.”
A critic commenting, in a major UK magazine, on a poet’s debut chapbook (best to leave both nameless), that a certain poem “suggests just why everyone is so glad of [this poet’s] arrival on the scene.” (who is “everyone”? Whose "scene"? What is meant by “arrival”?)
Best Essay on Poetry
Michael Schmidt – StAnza lecture: What, How Well, Why?
Best Live Poetry Gig
Jackie Kay, at the Shore Poets in Edinburgh
