It's a great poem

There shouldn't be an either/or on this stuff. There's enough bare space on walls that the pair of poems could have run alongside each other.

The pairing itself would be interesting too...

For a great survey of contemporary poetry id suggest checking out the Staying alive trilogy edited by Neil Astley.
Some top top stuff in that. Well curated too.
Bloodaxe's latest Ten anthology also pulled together some great new stuff from ethnic minority poets (who have been massively underrepresented). There's a nifty essay on the mentoring programme they set up brilliantly in that collection too.

Posted By: Cardiff Canary, Jul 19, 13:17:58