Yahoo! Tragic got it right having picked Jo Shapcott's delicious, Of Mutability as the most meritorious contender for the £25,000 Costa Book of the Year. The judges agreed and Tragic's average for picking winners from shortlists has risen to a respectable 31% - well, you can't be right all of the time.Tragic's 'Campaign to Refresh Artistic Poetry Publishing Editorial Design' ( or CRAPPED - as in the publisher 'crapped' out another shite cover) will no doubt get a boost when countless members of the book buying public vomit in unison as they rush out to buy a copy of the winning book.
The design of poetry book covers is generally beyond appalling and for works that evoke beauty and depth of feeling it defies belief that various appalling shades of Microsoft Publisher brown, washed out green, dark blues or murky purples dominate poetry book cover world. Tragic has a vision of a trainee pushing an automatic random cover generating program. Anyhow, back to the winning poet to whom metaphorical roses are bound.
Shapcott, has been on the scene for some time as her achievements (courtesy of Wiki) below indicate. A woman at the top of her art rightly recognised (photo from the Beeb above).
Tragic doesn't generally recommend books given tastes vary so much but he does give a five star rating to Shapcott's meditation on mortality. As a survivor of breast cancer, Ms. Shapcott is well qualified to comment.
made of the leaves of herbs and absolute
almond blossom, this tea, is the interpreter
of almond, liquid touchstone which lets us
scent its true taste at last and with a bump
in my case, takes me back to the yellow time
of trouble with bloodtests, and cellular
madness, and my presence required
on the slab for surgery, and all that mess
I don't want to comb through here because
it seems, honestly, a trifle now that steam
and scent and strength and steep and infusion
say thank you thank you thank you for the then, and now
Jo Shapcott
The book took some 10 years to pull together and is, in Tragic's view, her best work since the delightful Tender Taxes
, a translated collection of Rainer Maria Rilke's poems from the French.
Shapcott, has been on the scene for some time as her achievements (courtesy of Wiki) below indicate. A woman at the top of her art rightly recognised (photo from the Beeb above).
Tragic doesn't generally recommend books given tastes vary so much but he does give a five star rating to Shapcott's meditation on mortality. As a survivor of breast cancer, Ms. Shapcott is well qualified to comment.
Procedure
This tea, this cup of tea, made of leaves,made of the leaves of herbs and absolute
almond blossom, this tea, is the interpreter
of almond, liquid touchstone which lets us
scent its true taste at last and with a bump
in my case, takes me back to the yellow time
of trouble with bloodtests, and cellular
madness, and my presence required
on the slab for surgery, and all that mess
I don't want to comb through here because
it seems, honestly, a trifle now that steam
and scent and strength and steep and infusion
say thank you thank you thank you for the then, and now
Jo Shapcott
The book took some 10 years to pull together and is, in Tragic's view, her best work since the delightful Tender Taxes
, a translated collection of Rainer Maria Rilke's poems from the French.Whilst Tragic has mixed views of whole sponsorship branding thing he will raise a cup a Costa in appreciation of the judges choice , with a stiff dash of whisky to heighten the sensation.
Prizes and Awards
1982 South West Arts Literature Award
1985 National Poetry Competition (First Prize)
1989 Commonwealth Poetry Prize for Best First Collection Electroplating the Baby
1989 New Statesman Prudence Farmer Award
1991 National Poetry Competition (First Prize)
1999 Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year) My Life Asleep
2002 Created CBE in the Queen's New Years Honours List[14][15]
2006 Cholmondeley Award
1982 South West Arts Literature Award
1985 National Poetry Competition (First Prize)
1989 Commonwealth Poetry Prize for Best First Collection Electroplating the Baby
1989 New Statesman Prudence Farmer Award
1991 National Poetry Competition (First Prize)
1999 Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year) My Life Asleep
2002 Created CBE in the Queen's New Years Honours List[14][15]
2006 Cholmondeley Award
Poetry Collections
Electroplating the Baby Bloodaxe, 1988
Phrase Book Oxford University Press, 1992
A Journey to the Inner Eye: A Guide for All. South Bank Centre, 1996
Motherland Gwaithel & Gilwern, 1996
Penguin Modern Poets; book 12 (featuring Helen Dunmore, Matthew Sweeney and Jo Shapcott). Penguin Books, 1997
My Life Asleep, Oxford University Press, 1998
Poetry Quartets No. 5, (audio featuring Helen Dunmore, U. A. Fanthorpe, Elizabeth Jennings, Jo Shapcott) Bloodaxe, 1999
Her Book: Poems 1988-1998, Faber and Faber, 2000; reprinted 2006
Tender Taxes, Faber and Faber, 2002
Of Mutability Faber and Faber, 2010
Electroplating the Baby Bloodaxe, 1988
Phrase Book Oxford University Press, 1992
A Journey to the Inner Eye: A Guide for All. South Bank Centre, 1996
Motherland Gwaithel & Gilwern, 1996
Penguin Modern Poets; book 12 (featuring Helen Dunmore, Matthew Sweeney and Jo Shapcott). Penguin Books, 1997
My Life Asleep, Oxford University Press, 1998
Poetry Quartets No. 5, (audio featuring Helen Dunmore, U. A. Fanthorpe, Elizabeth Jennings, Jo Shapcott) Bloodaxe, 1999
Her Book: Poems 1988-1998, Faber and Faber, 2000; reprinted 2006
Tender Taxes, Faber and Faber, 2002
Of Mutability Faber and Faber, 2010
Collected prose
Elizabeth Bishop: Poet of the Periphery, Bloodaxe, 2002
The Transformers: The: Newcastle/Bloodaxe Poetry Lectures. Bloodaxe, 2011
Elizabeth Bishop: Poet of the Periphery, Bloodaxe, 2002
The Transformers: The: Newcastle/Bloodaxe Poetry Lectures. Bloodaxe, 2011
Edited collections
Emergency Kit: Poems for Strange Times (edited with Matthew Sweeney) Faber and Faber, 1996
Last Words: New Poetry for the New Century (edited with Don Paterson) Picador, 1999
Elizabeth Bishop: Poet of the Periphery (edited with Linda Anderson) Newcastle/Bloodaxe Poetry Series: 1, 2002
Emergency Kit: Poems for Strange Times (edited with Matthew Sweeney) Faber and Faber, 1996
Last Words: New Poetry for the New Century (edited with Don Paterson) Picador, 1999
Elizabeth Bishop: Poet of the Periphery (edited with Linda Anderson) Newcastle/Bloodaxe Poetry Series: 1, 2002
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