Ask for It by Name: Amazon.co.uk: Simon Barraclough, Olivia Cole, Isobel Dixon, Luke Heeley, Liane Strauss, Roisin Tierney: Books

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A well-stocked anthology from six prize-winning poets. Inside you'll find Mussolini cheating on the tennis court and meet the shark from Jaws in a Yorkshire millpond; glimpse the love of woman for orang-utan and make it across the Spanish-Italian border; spy on the hobbies of cowboys and drink deep of the Molotov cocktail of love. (From the back cover)

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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Mixed bag, 14 Jun 2009

By	Beau Bele - See all my reviews

Quite a mixed bag of poetry that alternates fine form with shallowness of meaning, good attempts at craftmanship, and at times charmless wit. 'Ask For It By Name' is much like other collections which seem to crowd the shelves. It contains poems which are diverse and yet unorginal, which left me baffled and strangely underwhelmed, and whose full meaning became even less obvious later. Many of the poets are strong writers without a doubt. Or so I thought. Worthy of note is Barraclough's 'Titanica' which becomes a tongue-tied attempt at cleverness of prose with faux-cleverness directed at the tragedy of the Titanic. Sad to mock the survivors. Similarly his 'London Whale' takes an event and then bludgeons it to death with cliche and stale and obvious treatment. There are others, of course. Olivia Cole, Isobel Dixon and Luke Heeley make this collection almost tolerable. But as a collection if failed for me and I can only recommend buying works from the original authors.

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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but flawed, 1 Jun 2008

By	Avid Reader - See all my reviews

All things considered this wasn't a bad little collection of interesting work from a new generation of poets.

I teetered on the brink of giving it four stars but... It was let down by the work by Simon Barraclough which I found to be derivative and obvious, and really wasn't terribly well crafted. But the book is worth buying just for the other pieces if you don't mind a dash of mediocre writing in the mix.

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0 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good poetry of an exceptional standard, 7 May 2009

By	D. Goonetillake - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Good poetry I think manages to combine fine form with depth of meaning, craftmanship with a characteristic texture, wit with an original charm - and there is much good poetry in 'Ask For It By Name'. I don't tend to read collections by multiple poets, preffering single authors works, but 'Ask For It By Name' is not like other collections which seem to crowd the shelves. 'Ask For It By Name' contains poems which are original and diverse and at the same time strangely sensuous, which like most sensuous experiences for me manage to leave me at first baffled but strangely delighted, and whose full meaning for me seems to settle a little bit later. All the poets are strong writers without a doubt but I take away from this collection some of the images that the first poet, Simon Barraclough, lets loose ("...Slinkies of razor wire" and a "rusting Cortina" for instance).Worthy of note is Barraclough's excellent 'Titanica' which pits convention and the constraints of language against the vernacular and manages to wrap this conceit in the familiar image of the Titanic going down, which in the clatter of that wreck and the pointer towards death seems just the right metaphor. Similarly his 'London Whale' an event that the media bludgeoned to cliche is given a fresh and subtle treatment here, with a gentle melding of the whale's last journey with a nod towards a resonant tragic event with grainy cctv footage suggesting 'Just another morning commuter/touching in or out with an Oyster Card' and the poem's title coming back to hint and haunt, transforming a 'London Whale' to a public poem. Luke Heeley's fine 'Correspondence Course' and Olivia Cole's 'Il Duce's Match' are further good examples of the strength of writing to be found in this collection and I personally found Isobel Dixon's 'Housewifery' a triumph. In fact there is more that I would want to write but one thing for sure and that 'Ask For It By Name' will spur me to purchase individual works by these poets. I can only suggest that others buy this work now as an effective entry to a group of talented and insightful writers who combine craftmanship and imagery and description - the very essence of poetry for me.

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Ask for It by Name [Illustrated] (Paperback)

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