Mark Halliday

I seem to have finished a second book of poetry in the stack I've recently acquired, Mark Halliday's Keep This Forever. I won't attempt to review the poems as poetry as I am strictly a proser who likes to read poetry in the summers..... but.... I LOVED it. There is nothing inaccessible or obfusc here; Halliday's poetry persona is a man who is admitting, from the get-go, that he never gets anything quite right, that he suffers intense moments of 'what is this all for , all this fighting, all show more this intensity, and self-centeredness, and selfishness, given that we all die and so soon..... but you can also sit for a long time with one of these poems and see how carefully crafted they are despite the smooth way you can read them and the way they make you wince and laugh and say, yes, inside...... Superb, and highly highly recommended for those who don't usually read poetry and wished they did read some poetry but feel intimidated. ***** show less

Deft, funny, multi-layered poems. Halliday's a highly original contemporary poet.