I am taking a bit of a break from reviewing poetry books at the moment as I have so much else on, so I thought I would write about the process of reviewing in this blog. I got my first taste of reviewing through responding to Helena Nelson’s invitation to learn how to do an OPOI response (one point of interest). Nell used this approach for pamphlet reviews for Sphinx Review, allied to her press, Happenstance Press. She provided training with the aim of OPOIs being constructive and attentive to detail. I learnt about ensuring readability (using the Flesch-Kincaid tool in the spelling and grammar function on ‘Word’). Although she no longer accepts pamphlets for review, you can still read back reviews on the website – a terrific resource to get a flavour of poetry by a great number of poets.

I then took on more ambitious reviewing for London Grip and The Alchemy Spoon, for both pamphlets and collections.  Collections of course, being longer, take more time to review.  Being clear about any deadlines is important and you also have to get to know what editors require in terms of word length and formatting. Each editor will have a different requirement. I do sometimes find it difficult to remember the respective formatting rules: length of quotations and how they should be set out etc. I am not very good ‘track changes’ either. However, I always get there in the end and my reviews seem to be appreciated!

At a certain point, I thought it might be useful to do a workshop on reviewing to understand if I was doing this in the right way. I specifically wanted to know whether there was an expectation to be critical in the way that a theatre critic might be. One could argue that there is a risk of reviews ending up bland. Reviewing is a fairly subjective process of course and only one person’s point of view. What I learnt from the workshop, was that a poetry reviewer is primarily expected to present an overview to the reader so they can decide for themselves what to think if they read the book. I think reviewers can have a degree of confidence from knowing a book has been published in the first place (it has met some quality criteria). Quotations highlight themes in the poetry and also provide objective evidence to back any assertions made by the reviewer.

My process is to read the poems once, noting comments in pencil on the text, then I read the poems again a few days later. Only then do I settle down to write, sometimes just noting themes and possible key quotations. I then have to think about how the review is structured, how one point leads into another and how my series of observations and quotations lead to the overarching final comment.

I try to choose poetry to review that I think will interest me. Editors often provide a list of books for you to flag up two or three preferences. Sometimes I will be sent something I don’t expect. This can be challenging but it is always good to be stretched! In some cases, I choose a book by a particular publisher as I want to get to know their range of publications. Reviewing is a useful way to get your name known by making new connections with poets and publishers. It is a great way to keep reading a wide range of poetry at no financial cost since you are sent free review copies. However, you do not get paid for reviewing and there is a time cost of course.

As a poet, it is very gratifying to have my work reviewed though I never know if a review is read and if that actually increases sales. However, it does give my poetry a better chance to be appreciated, so thank you to all those who have reviewed or published reviews of my work. There is a list of reviews I have done myself on my website and also a list of the reviews of each of my pamphlets (under the pamphlet name).

As I have got to know more poets, I take time to read the reviews of their latest work. That is always interesting.  So, I encourage readers of this blog to try their hand at reviewing, ask to be on the roster of a magazine or journal that publishes reviews and also read reviews!

If you would like to contact me to comment or follow up, please send me an email via the contact box on my website . You can also contact me to buy a signed copy my books

Sleeping Under Clouds (Clayhanger Press) and A City Waking Up (Dempsey and Windle).