Edward Ragg

I first came across Edward Ragg’s work when I saw that one of his poems had been awarded Highly Commended poem in The Forward Book of Poetry 2014. I thought it was a wonderful piece of work, short and packed with some much meaning.

Fast forward a couple of years and I had joined Twitter. Just happed to post a link to this short piece for #NationalPoetryDay and tagged him. He followed me back and he offered to send me both his collections which duly arrived three years ago and got buried on show more a shelf… (Sorry Edward!).

Finally got to pick the first, A Force That Takes recently and now regret not doing so earlier. It is a delightful collection that covers his new life in China and his old life in the UK. There are poems on silence, spices, philosophers and art galleries.

Ragg has a beautiful way with language, his sparse writing, devolves so much meaning from so few words. It feels easy to read, but I guess that it takes some effort to reach this point. It is a collection that demands a re-read at some point in the future.

Three Favourite Poems:
Declaration
The Philosopher and the Lake
And my all-time favourite poem, Anthem at Morning show less