Most Read... John McAuliffeBill Manhire in Conversation with John McAuliffe
(PN Review 259)
Patricia CraigVal Warner: A Reminiscence
(PN Review 259)
Joshua WeinerAn Exchange with Daniel Tiffany/Fall 2020
(PN Review 259)
Eavan BolandA Lyric Voice at Bay
(PN Review 121)
Vahni CapildeoOn Judging Prizes, & Reading More than Six Really Good Books
(PN Review 237)
Christopher MiddletonNotes on a Viking Prow
(PN Review 10)
Next Issue Sinead Morrissey 'The Lightbox' Philip Terry 'What is Poetry' Ned Denny 'Nine Poems after Verlaine' Sasha Dugdale 'On learning that Russian mothers buy their soldier sons lucky belts inscribed with Psalm 90 to wear into battle' Rod Mengham 'Cold War Hot Air'
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
Reader Survey
PN Review Substack

This review is taken from PN Review 91, Volume 19 Number 5, May - June 1993.

James KeeryLITTLE ENOUGH Harry Smart, Pierrot (Faber and Faber) £4.99

'What can poetry do against a wall / Of skulls?' ('Year 10'). Little enough, one might think, but who cares, when it can win you a place in the Prizewinners' Anthology of the 1987 National Poetry Competition, or on the shortlist for the 1990 Arvon International? 'Lyrical in the Killing Fields, / Should it tread softly?' Admire the aplomb of the poet, suffering these agonies on our behalf, who can craft his qualms into tidy lines, then lick a stamp and post them off in the hope of winning a prize! The realistic hope, it would appear - what times are these, indeed?

I wonder if Brecht is satisfied - or turning in his grave? The deft allusion to one of Yeats's dreamiest lyrics - the implicit claim that 'First Lieutenant Smartcliffe as friends used say' ('Billy Budd', sic) is made of sterner yet more compassionate stuff than such an old stager as Yeats - rubs salt in the wound. It reminds me of a Guardian review of As We Know that used 'toughly Brechtian' pragmatism as a stick to beat Ashbery with. In fact, this book is the exclusive product of the world of competitions - and copy-writing, and co-opted covers. The latest Bloodaxe promotion, 'Ian Duhig', who 'has the questionable distinction of being the leader of a new cultural movement … Punk Modernism - or PM', gets a namecheck, and the credit for a satirical swing - 'that golfing-torn, that dong-tormented sea' - that lands ...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image