Contemporary Poetry with Topping & Co.

Mikey Recommends...

Nobody by Alice Oswald

It is my enormous privilege to be interviewing the great poet Alice Oswald at the bookshop in a couple of weeks, so I've been reflecting on the first work of hers I read, a sort of verse novel a la Anne Carson. Inspired by the wanderings of Odysseus and deeply engaged with its maritime setting, reading Nobody is like being swayed by an oceanic current, its free and fluid structure pushing you out into an unmoored sense of time and place. Mesmerising and hypnotic, Nobody is a wonderful introduction to one of the most essential poets alive today.

Sanna Recommends...

Teeth in the Back of my Neck by Monika Radojevic

I will never stop recommending Monika Radojevic's assertive debut collection Teeth in the Back of my Neck (2021). Accessible, articulate and fiercely angry, her work offers an inventive expression of what it means to be a young woman today. She also explores themes like racism, chronic pain, Brexit, belonging, and grief. Bristling with tension and beautifully realised, this collection firmly establishes her as one of the most exciting poetic voices of her generation.

Sylvia Recommends...

Devotions by Mary Oliver

Devotions is a volume of Mary Oliver’s poetry and is possibly the most beautiful thing I’ve ever read. Oliver’s words are borne of a swelling reverence for the natural world, writing ecstasy into fallen leaves, flocks of geese, and even the biting winter gales. The soul of Oliver’s poetry is her awareness of small yet miraculous things, a revolution against “the orderly house of reasons and proofs.” Her poems are not merely gorgeous, but revelatory, letting the reader in on a secret way of seeing, of pausing, of knowing magic everywhere. Oliver’s words seem the very definition of ‘devotions,’ prayer-like yet asking for nothing, save a willing imagination. As Oliver writes, “You wouldn’t believe what once or twice I have seen. I’ll just tell you this: only if there are angels in your head will you ever, possibly, see one.”