The best recent poetry – review roundup

<p>Namanlagh by Tom Paulin; Foretokens by Sarah Howe; Maryville by Joelle Taylor; Hekate by Nikita Gill; Goatsong by Phoebe Giannisi</p><p><strong><a href="https://www.guardianbookshop.com/namanlagh-9780571395842/?utm_source=editoriallink&amp;utm_medium=merch&amp;utm_campaign=article">Namanlagh</a> by Tom Paulin (Faber, £12.99)</strong><strong><br></strong>It has been more than a decade – “long empty days / with the blank page” – since Paulin’s Love’s Bonfire. His 10th collection is informed by depression and the recovery from it: “if only some idea / could find its way / through enemy territory / then I’d at last begin / to look up at the sky”. His lyrics still meander down the page, but linguistic fireworks have been replaced by language that is straightforward, unadorned and more affecting for it. This also gives his reflections on the recent shifts in Northern Irish history and politics more bite. But it’s in its more private moments that the book really shines: “Heed my cadences then and live only for now. / Don’t ever bother about tomorrow. / Just pluck, today, life’s full-blooded roses”.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/oct/31/the-best-recent-poetry-review-roundup">Continue reading...</a>