Sadly, my dear wife, Glenda, passed away on 6th February, 2014. I have lovingly collected all her peotry together, including some poems not previously published or in draft form. It is therefore a complete collection of her poetic work and I hope it will stand as a tribute to her. Glenda had a very creative and analytical mind, together with a wry sense of humour, much appreciated by those who knew her and enjoyed her lively company. In her poems, she often strays from the expected line to challenge the reader to reflect on unusual and striking visual images. In several of her poems she explores the slow deterioration that she was experiencing in her daily battle with Parkinson's Disease, at times in a humorous way, but never shying away from the cruelty of this life-changing condition. Shortly after her retirement, she was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, which gave her the impetus to publish her work, initiallty to raise money for Parkenson's UK and the Motor Neurone Disease Association. 'Oops' was published in 2008 and was followed by 'Funny Peculiar Funny Ha-Ha' (2011) and 'Bits and Pieces' (published posthumously in 2016).

Sadly, my dear wife, Glenda, passed away on 6th February, 2014. I have lovingly collected all her peotry together, including some poems not previously published or in draft form. It is therefore a complete collection of her poetic work and I hope it will stand as a tribute to her. Glenda had a very creative and analytical mind, together with a wry sense of humour, much appreciated by those who knew her and enjoyed her lively company. In her poems, she often strays from the expected line to challenge the reader to reflect on unusual and striking visual images. In several of her poems she explores the slow deterioration that she was experiencing in her daily battle with Parkinson's Disease, at times in a humorous way, but never shying away from the cruelty of this life-changing condition. Shortly after her retirement, she was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, which gave her the impetus to publish her work, initiallty to raise money for Parkenson's UK and the Motor Neurone Disease Association. 'Oops' was published in 2008 and was followed by 'Funny Peculiar Funny Ha-Ha' (2011) and 'Bits and Pieces' (published posthumously in 2016).

An astonishing discovery was made in 1995 during the British Library's removal from the British Museum. Thirty-four letters and eighteen draft poems, including "Break of Day in the Trenches", "Dead Man's Dump", and "Returning, We Hear the Larks" by the poet and artist Isaac Rosenberg were found in a bundle of papers stored by former museum keeper Laurence Binyon, himself a poet and Rosenberg's mentor. After his death as a private soldier on the Western Front on 1 April 1918, Isaac Rosenberg, now regarded as a major poet of the First World War, was largely forgotten, and only the devotion of his family and the support of his fellow poets rescued his work for posterity. Binyon and another older poet, Gordon Bottomley, encouraged and corresponded with Rosenberg until his death, and then edited his poems and extracts from his letters for publication. The newly discovered papers include all Rosenberg's complete letters and draft poems to Binyon and Bottomley, together with material about Rosenberg from family, friends and mentors such as his sister Annie, Whitechapel librarian Morley Dainow, schoolteacher Winifreda Seaton, and patron Frank Emmanuel. All are published here, most for the first time. At first overshadowed by the more acceptably English war poets, Rosenberg's poetry did not fit the poetic ideals of the time, just as he, an East End Jew born of immigrant parents, did not present the accepted public image of the heroic soldier poet. The originality and strength of his poetry were rooted in the struggle with the opposing elements of his life, which did not follow the conventions of any role he played: East End Jew, poet, painter or soldier. In one unpublished letter from the trenches he reveals his difficulties, 'I don't suppose my poems will ever be poetry right and proper until I shall be able to settle down and whip myself into more expression. As it is, my not being able to get poetry out of my head & heart causes me sufficient trouble out here.' (Letter to Bottomley, postmarked 11 July 1917)

Liefland is in vyf afdelings verdeel. Reeds heel in die begin lees ons "Onthou die aarde nog die krag/ wat dit gevorm het/ die berge, onthou die berge/ die lawa/" en die vers sluit later af met die woorde "Onthou die liefde die niks". Die digter skroom nie om verskillende fasette van ons land en die tyd waarin ons woon te ontgin nie, of dit gaan oor die vrou wat sterf langs die pad, 'n moord op Bitterfontein, 'n kind wat deur bendes geskiet word in Waterbergstraat, bergies of straatkinders, 'n bom wat ontplof.

Met die bundel beeldgedigte stel Marlene van Niekerk op ’n oorspronklike en toeganklike manier die minder bekende Nederlandse skilder Jan Mankes (1889-1920) bekend. Sy lewer daarmee nogeens ’n bewys van die vernuwende aard van haar werk. Die bundel bevat ’n dosyn of wat skilderye, in kleur afgedruk, telkens vergesel van ’n beeldgedig in Afrikaans met die Nederlandse vertaling daarvan op die volgende bladsy. Beskryf as “’n poetiese kragtoer”.

Met die bundel beeldgedigte stel Marlene van Niekerk op ’n oorspronklike en toeganklike manier die minder bekende Nederlandse skilder Jan Mankes (1889-1920) bekend. Sy lewer daarmee nogeens ’n bewys van die vernuwende aard van haar werk. Die bundel bevat ’n dosyn of wat skilderye, in kleur afgedruk, telkens vergesel van ’n beeldgedig in Afrikaans met die Nederlandse vertaling daarvan op die volgende bladsy. Beskryf as “’n poetiese kragtoer”.

Vir die fynproewer-leser bied hierdie bundel 'n opwindende leeservaring: surrealistiese verse wat hulle nie maklik tot interpretasie leen nie. Tog handel die verse dikwels oor baie konkrete dinge – en is Schaffer se opstapeling van skynbaar verbandlose idees juis tekenend van die menslike kondisie in die een-en-twintigste eeu.

Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems was originally published by City Lights Books in the Fall of 1956. Subsequently seized by U.S. customs and the San Francisco police, it was the subject of a long court trail at which a series of poets and professors persuaded the court that the book was not obscene. Howl & Other Poems is the single most influential poetic work of the post-World War II era, with over 1,000,000 copies now in print. "Howl was Allen's metamorphosis from quiet, brilliant, burning bohemian scholar trapped by his flames and repressions to epic vocal bard."--Michael McClure "It is the poet, Allen Ginsberg, who has gone, in his own body, through the horrifying experiences described from life in these pages." --William Carlos Williams "At the height of his bardic powers, Allen Ginsberg could terrify the authorities with the mere utterance of the syllable "om" as he led street throngs of citizens protesting the Vietnam War. Ginsberg reigned as the raucous poet of American hippiedom and as a literary pioneer whose freewheeling masterwork "Howl" prevailed against government censorship in a landmark obscenity trial 50 years ago." -- New York Times "Fifty years ago, on October 3, Judge Clayton Horn ruled that Allen Ginsberg's great epic Beat-era poem HOWL was not obscene but instead, a work of literary and social merit. This ruling allowed for the publication of HOWL and exonerated the poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who faced jail time and a fine 50 years ago for publishing 'HOWL.'" -- Pacifica.org Allen Ginsberg was born June 3, 1926, the son of Naomi Ginsberg, Russian emigre, and Louis Ginsberg, lyric poet and schoolteacher, in Paterson, New Jersey. To these facts Ginsberg adds: "High school in Paterson till 17, Columbia College, merchant marine, Texas and Denver copyboy, Times Square, amigos in jail, dishwashing, book reviews, Mexico City, market research, Satori in Harlem, Yucatan and Chiapas 1954, West Coast 3 years. Later Arctic Sea trip, Tangier, Venice, Amsterdam, Paris, read at Oxford Harvard Columbia Chicago, quit, wrote Kaddish 1959, made tape to leave behind & fade in Orient awhile. Carl Solomon to whom Howl is addressed, is a intuitive Bronx dadaist and prose-poet."

Fareena Khan is a British born Asian of Pakistani origin from Manchester who has written a selection of poems in her very first book which have a deep hidden meaning behind each and every one of them. This book promotes the use of the Urdu language which is slowly becoming just a dialect. For Fareena Urdu is a source of pride and her book has broken all moulds and is delivered to you in three different written formats. Each poem has been written in Roman Urdu, Urdu and translated in English. Her Book also aims to give asians a voice and tackles some subjects which are taboo. Fareena Khan ek Manchester paidaish ki Pakistani bartanvi shehri hein. Jinhoun ne apni pehli shayari ki kitaab likhi hai. Har sheyr ke peeche ek chupa huwa matlab hai. Fareena urdu zubaan ke istimaal ko barhaana chathi hai. Yeh kithaab Roman urdu mein likh hai, Urdu aur angraizi mein bi. Fareena har insaan ko Awaz dena chathi hai aur iss kitaab mein unho ne un kisoun ke bareh mein likha hai jin keh bareh mein log bolte nahi.

Dié hoogs afgeronde digdebuut van Corné Coetzee is ’n opwindende gebeurtenis in die Afrikaanse uitgewersbedryf. Coetzee het ’n sonderlinge styl en toonaard. Op die oppervlak roer daar ‘n oënskynlike eenvoud, maar onderliggend is ’n web van deurdagtheid versteek. Volgens een keurder word die gedigte veral gekenmerk aan ’n fyn balans tussen emosie en mymering/waarneming – iets wat herinner aan sommige historiese digkunsvorme uit Japan en China. Coetzee put uit die wêreld van die huisvrou, die groei en verbrokkeling, vreugde en pyn van verhoudings, die Boeddha, die omgewing en die hier-en-nou soos gesetel in die durende gang van lewe en dood.

Reeds in die eerste gedig word die leser gekonfronteer met die belangrikste tema van die bundel: "die aarde se beskeie plekkie in die niet". Met die kommer oor die bedreiging van die balans in veral die kwesbare Karoo is Dolf van Niekerk se vyfde digbundel baie tydig.

Radbraak is Jolyn Phillips se digdebuut in Afrikaans. In dié digbundel verbrokkel sy taal, draai sy die rug op haar vel-taal, ‘radbraak’ sy haar eie taal. Dit is die enigste medium wat sy het, maar sy breek dit, sy vernuwe dit, sy ont-taal dit. Phillips is ’n nuwe stem in Afrikaans – soms liries maar deurgaans skreiend en ook uitdagend.

Volgens bekroonde digter Petra Müller is Radbraak ’n ‘klein aardbewing van ’n bundel’.