SBWright reviewed Division Street by Helen Mort
Review of 'Division Street' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
You know what sold me on this collection? Not the fact that Carol Ann Duffy said that Mort was one of the “brightest stars in the sparkling new constellation of young British Poets”. Not the visually appealing cover that hints at my politically left inclinations. No, it was the poet herself reading Miss Heath (included in the collection and appended below). There’s a lesson in there for small publishers of poetry(and poets) I think. Never underestimate that extra something a poem read in the poet’s voice can provide.
Still it was a risk spending $30 on someone I had only heard on Youtube. A reader can be burned by cover blurbs, more so in communities that are small, where poets are friends and/or part of a movement or trend. That’s not to suggest nepotism or something like it; more the reality that familiarity can breed appreciation that might not extend …
You know what sold me on this collection? Not the fact that Carol Ann Duffy said that Mort was one of the “brightest stars in the sparkling new constellation of young British Poets”. Not the visually appealing cover that hints at my politically left inclinations. No, it was the poet herself reading Miss Heath (included in the collection and appended below). There’s a lesson in there for small publishers of poetry(and poets) I think. Never underestimate that extra something a poem read in the poet’s voice can provide.
Still it was a risk spending $30 on someone I had only heard on Youtube. A reader can be burned by cover blurbs, more so in communities that are small, where poets are friends and/or part of a movement or trend. That’s not to suggest nepotism or something like it; more the reality that familiarity can breed appreciation that might not extend to the wider public.
It was a risk worth the taking though. I think I have discovered a poet who’s career I’d like to follow and whose work definitely gives me joy.
Read the rest of the reveiw at Adventures of a Bookonut