Masculinity: an anthology of modern voices Edited by R Dove, A Kent, and S McPherson

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At 300 pages this is a expansive anthology, giving voice to a rich and wide set of voices.

There is a strong queering of the masculine – owning it not apologetic

I tagged the following:

spit & Sawdust by Simon Alderwick

Sports Bar by Matt Alton

Bestiary of the River of Doubt by Andre Bagoo

Fitter Happier by Ben Banyard

The Last Time by Lewis Wyn Davies

I’m Fine Daragh Fleming

Not to be published poem 2 by Charlie Hounsell

At the Buffalo Irish Center for St. Patrick’s Day by Justin Karcher

Steam Room by James McDermott

Instructions on how to assemble a man by Antony Owen

Losing Love by Sandeep Sandhu

Hey! How are you? By Jack Solloway

This Man by Erich von Hungen

Night Terror by Mick Wood

Kitchen Hymns by Pádraig Ó Tuama

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Pádraig speaks of the darkness and complexity of life in ways that somehow lean into hope, he affirms that life is not easy, and in that affirmation you can face the world

This is an uncomfortable collection – and all the better for that …

I tagged these poems:

In The Name of the Bee

Mother Brendan’s Opening Words at Ash Wednesday Mass

Do You Believe in God? (page 8)

Do You Believe in God? (page 22)

In a Garden by a Gate

A Sword Shall Pierce Your Heart

the words on page 71

The Forward Book of Poetry 2025

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I put tabs on the following poems

The Hebridean Crab Apple by Marjorie Lotfi

ghazal, screaming by Toby Campion

Dear John Berger by Leyla Josephine

What Grief Feels Like to Me by Michael Pedersen

I wanted to show you a donkey in the field or I want to show you the donkey in a field by Lisa Kelly

Dance on My Grave by Amy Acre

An Empty Barn in the Midlands by Eva Bourke

You Wouldn’t Last five Minutes as a Woman by Madailín Burnhope

Snowman by Katie Donovan

The Blood, Oh the Blood by Carrie Etter

Them! By Harry Josephine Giles

We didn’t mean to kill Mr Flynn by Seán Hewitt

Love Poem with Typos by Tammy Lai-Ming Ho

The Wild Swans at The Wetlands Centre by Victoria Kennefick

Keeper by Mícheál McCann

The Grief of Creatures by Paula Meehan

Noah’s Ark by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin

Proofs by Peter Sirr

Ardently Love by Eric Yip

Queer Life, Queer Love Edited by M Bates, G Nour, S & K Beal

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This is such a great collection with a mix of poems, short stories, and non-fiction pieces.

I tagged

My Name is Frida by Rosy Adams

Queer Love by Julia Bell

Dancing Men by Manish Chauhan

The Glass Hammer by Leon Craig

Autumn is the Queerest Season by Serge Ψ Neptune

Going West by Harry F. Rey

Hemisferio Cuir Selected and translated by Leo Boix

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You should already know that I am a big fan of Fourteen Poems, but the anthologies they are making happen just make me love them more and more – and this is such a great example of light shining in the darkness.

Bringing together Queer voices from across Latin American, and in translation bringing them to an English language audience, is pushing back against so many of the things that are toxic in the world right now.

And the poems are brilliant!!

I put tags in…

Selfie by Pablo Romero

Poetas enamoradas (Female Poets in Love) by V. Andino Diaz

Cristo Es Una Mujer (Christ is a Woman) by Ingrid Bringas

A ella (Que tambien soy yo) (To Her (Who is Also Me) by Daniel Nizcub

Mantenimiento y reparacion (Maintenance and Repair) by Edu Barreto

The Heart of Things by Richard Holloway

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Subtitled ‘An Anthology of Memory & Lament’ but this is more than an anthology, Richard Holloway sets the poems he offers us within a commentary that really opens them up.

Memory and Lament might feel like fairly depressing themes, but I found this full of hope – even when we are facing the pain of loss, it is painful because of the joy and the love that have gone before.

I think this will be a book to return to from time to time...

Too Much by Tom Allen

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Having found Tom Allen’s first book, No Shame, so powerful it was always going to be a challenge to live up to that. Just because Too Much didn’t make me cry doesn’t mean it a lesser book.

This book centres more on Tom’s family, and it reminded me a lot of Tom Cox’s writing about his Dad – how their Dads are such rich characters in their lives.