E Walker’s Deus ex Cochlia
Third prize in the the Annual Ambit Competition for Poetry 2021, judged by Kim Addonizio. It started out innocently enough:
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POEMS
Sarah Gibbon’s Things hang well on me now I am so beautifully sad
Second prize winner of the Annual Ambit Competition 2021 for Poems, judged by Kim Addonizio. Your brain has given you
Laurie Ogden’s What we are given
First prize, Annual Ambit Competition for Poems 2021, judged by Kim Addonizio, who said: Laurie Ogden peels back layers of
Mícheál McCann reviews two Belfast poets, Leontia Flynn & Dawn Watson
Leontia Flynn, Slim New Book (The Lifeboat Press, 2020) and Dawn Watson, The Stack of Owls is Getting Higher (The
Sean Wai Keung reviews Cynthia Miller & Khairani Barokka
Two new collections from Nine Arches Press: Cynthia Miller’s striking Honorifics and the strident Ultimatum Orangutan by Khairani Barokka. Whether
Oliver Reed as a feminist discussion
Phoebe Clarke reviews Oliver Reed (Montez Press, 2020) by Hannah Regal. We’d like to apologise for the delay in sharing
Wound-i-stan
by Suhrab Sirat (translated by Aviva Dautch) We’re sharing this translation for Refugee Week 2021, where the UN approximate at
The Oil Encounter
An essay by Yvonne Reddick There were waves on the desert horizon, where no waves should be. In fifty-degree heat,
Laughter Lifeboat
A poem by Fred Voss In a machine shop a machinist will laughwhenever he canno matter how dirty or tired
Turning Dillinger Into Shakespeare
A poem by Fred Voss When I stepped into that steel mill I feltlike a criminalmurdering everything I had been
Marvin Thompson reviews Hanan Issa and Zoë Brigley
My Body Can House Two Hearts is published by Burning Eye Books (2019)Aubade After A French Movie is published by
Commended poems from Ambit’s 2020 Poetry Competition
Commended poems from our annual poetry competition on the theme of ‘Cataclysm’ judged by Fred D’Aguiar. The theme was chosen well
Laia Sales Merino on Code-switching
A look into the melange of language ‘Yo no se que vas a hacer but you need to get your
Astra Papachristodoulou on Neo-futurist Poetics
A look at futurist poetry We don’t just use technology; we live with it. Much more deeply than ever before,
Astra Papachristodoulou reviews Stephen Emmerson
Piece published by If P Then Q (2020) Stephen Emmerson’s impressive corpus of work includes books and object poems that
Nikita Biswal reviews Jennifer Wong
Letters Home 回家’ published by Nine Arches Press (2020) Jennifer Wong’s new book of poems is the “small dream of
James Peake reviews Robert Selby
The Coming-Down Time published by Shoestring Press (2020) RS Thomas once told The Guardian that there wasn’t much great poetry from young
Laia Sales Merino reviews Huracán María anthology
Loretta Collins Klobah and Maria Grau Perejoan translated and edited The Sea Needs No Ornament / El Mar No Necesita
Declan Ryan reviews Eduardo C. Corral
Guillotine is published by Graywolf (2020) Eduardo C. Corral has always been a poet of heartbreak, but in Guillotine the personal is
Declan Ryan reviews Naush Sabah
Heredity/Astynome is published by Broken Sleep Books (2020) Naush Sabah arrives in – I’m not sure of the correct term
Alan Bilton reviews Julian Stannard
Heat Wave is published by Salt (2020) Is there such a thing as sinister whimsy? An early poem in Julian
Jake Morris-Campbell reviews Eve Ewing and Caleb Femi and Jay Bernard
1919 is published by Haymarket (2019)Poor is published by Penguin (2020)Surge is published by Chatto (2019) Sitting behind Eve Ewing’s 1919 and
Leaf Arbuthnot reviews Ali Lewis
Hotel is published by Verve Poetry Press (2020) If you allow Ali Lewis’ debut pamphlet, Hotel, to open on its own, it’s
Nikita Biswal reviews Suna Afshan
Belladonna is published by Broken Sleep Books/Legitimate Snack (2020) This debut micro-pamphlet heralds an ecstatic voice from the Midlands. Suna
Nikita Biswal reviews Bhanu Kapil
How to Wash a Heart published by Liverpool University Press (2020) How to Wash a Heart, Bhanu Kapil’s illuminating new
Nikita Biswal reviews Hope Mirrlees
Paris: A Poem published by Faber & Faber (2020) First published by the Hogarth Press in 1920, Hope Mirrlees’s Paris saw a
Hayworth
A poem by Mary Ruefle Literature is steep,changeable, and solitary –like this day, there isa tomb, a debt, a crumb,and
The Swallows in the Courtyard
A poem by Leontia Flynn The swallowsin the courtyard.The moonlightover the outbuildings. The footprint trailin the terracotta tilesleft by a
David Harsent x André Naffis-Sahely
Our former poetry editor speaks with the Forward, Griffin International, TS Eliot Prize winner David Harsent has published thirteen volumes
Winners of Ambit’s 2020 poetry competition
Winners of our annual poetry competition on the theme of ‘Cataclysm’ judged by Fred D’Aguiar. The theme was chosen well before
Jennifer Wong reviews Heidi Williamson
Return by Minor Road is published by Bloodaxe (2020) Beautifully crafted and understated, yet deeply moving, Return by Minor Road — Heidi
Jade Cuttle on Guillaume Apollinaire
A brief delve into the French poet and playwright I first stumbled across the work of Guillaume Apollinaire as a
Poppy Kleiser on Liz Berry and Alison Brackenbury
Poetry and Place: Where We Are This year, the Arts Council funded Places of Poetry, a project curated by Paul Farley
Martha Sprackland reviews Ilya Kaminsky
Deaf Republic published by Faber & Faber (2019) Forgive me for what I’m telling you;Quietly, quietly read it back to
Olly Todd reviews Jennifer Lee Tsai
Kismet published by ignitionpress (2019) The corridors of memory are labyrinthine, leading to rooms of revelry and lament by turns.
Leaf Arbuthnot reviews Isabel Galleymore
Significant Other published by Carcanet (2019) Isabel Galleymore’s debut collection for Carcanet, Significant Other, also visits the Amazon, although not the
Leaf Arbuthnot reviews Martha Sprackland
Milk Tooth published by Rough Trade Editions (2019) Martha Sprackland’s pamphlet Milk Tooth opens with a tremor of uncertainty. “What do I
Robert Selby reviews Zaffar Kunial
Six published by Faber & Faber (2019) “The English are not very spiritual people,” George Bernard Shaw supposedly once said,
Poetry competition report 2019
Judged by Liz Berry Ambit has always loved wild things: bold, challenging, joyful, feral, utterly ungovernable – that’s the kind of
Catullus 68 (A) Lisbon A.D.
A poem by Polina Barskova, translated from Russian by Valzhyna Mort I don’t know where these words will find you,
Annual poetry competition winners 2018
Thanks to everyone who entered our competition, judged by Malika Booker on the theme of ‘Home’. We had a record
Shoshana Kessler reviews Edward Doegar and Rebecca Tamas
For Real published by Clinic (2018)Savage published by Clinic (2018) Clinic, a poetry and arts platform founded in 2009, prints
Declan Ryan reviews Fady Joudah
Footnotes in the Order of Disappearance published by Milkweed (2018) The German poet Gottfried Benn (1886 – 1956) once practiced
André Naffis-Sahely reviews Ruth Padel
Emerald published by Chatto & Windus (2018) If Ruth Padel is one our national treasures – and she most certainly
Jade Cuttle reviews Kaveh Akbar
Calling A Wolf A Wolf published by Penguin (2018) “So much of being alive is breaking”, writes Iranian-American poet, Kaveh
Declan Ryan reviews Zaffar Kunial
Us published by Faber & Faber (2018) Zaffar Kunial’s debut Us opens with ‘Fielder’, and finds the narrator “just past
Will Burns reviews Michael Hofmann
One Lark, One Horse published by Faber and Faber (2018) It has been twenty years since Michael Hofmann’s last book
Shoshana Kessler reviews Helen Charman
Support, Support published by Offord Road Books (2018) Astute without being esoteric, Helen Charman’s gift in her debut pamphlet Support, support is
Jennifer Lee Tsai reviews Judita Vaičiūnaitė
Vagabond Sun: Selected Poems – translated by Rimas Uzgiris, published by Shearsman (2018) Reading Vagabond Sun: Selected Poems (Shearsman) by Judita Vaičiūnaitė
Declan Ryan reviews Emily Hasler
The Built Environment published by Pavilion Press (2018) There is something fitting about this review coming almost exactly a year
Nasser Hussain reviews bpNichol
Nights on Prose Mountain: The Fiction of bpNichol – edited by Derek Beaulieu, published by Coach House Press (2018) Barrie
Phoebe Clarke reviews Sophie Robinson
Rabbit published by Boiler House Press (2018) Sophie Robinson’s Rabbit is a beautifully designed book. Small, white, and compact, it wears a
Sci-Fi Meditation
A poem by Fady Joudah It’s a year in the future we’ll catch up to.In some location we call homeor
Winners of Ambit’s 2018 Poetry Competition
Judge by Malika Booker on the theme of ‘Home’. The top three poems were published in Ambit 234 and the
Lucy Mercer reviews Emily Berry
Stranger, Baby published by Faber & Faber (2017) “All I want is the answer to my blood, without fribbling intervention
William Davie reviews Alice Neel
Alice Neel, Uptown at Victoria Miro Gallery, London Exhibition: Alice Neel, Uptown Gallery: Victoria Miro, 16 Wharf Road, London N1 7RW
Will Harris reviews Ocean Vuong and Kayo Chingonyi
Night Sky with Exit Wounds published by Jonathan Cape (2017)Kumukanda published by Chatto & Windus (2017) Lost in many of
Poetry Guest Editor’s Note
Jee Leong Koh, New York City, March 20, 2017 his is how you create people who get away with murder
Ambit’s 2017 Poetry Competition ‘Resistance’ Winners Announced
Judge George Szirtes reveals the 1st, 2nd, 3rd & runners up In Ambit’s fourth Annual Poetry Competition, first prize goes
from LOSS
A poem by David Harsent I How would it be to live without whisky, without wine –an even tread in
Declan Ryan reviews Fiona Sampson
The Catch published by Chatto & Windus (2016) Fiona Sampson’s The Catch (Chatto & Windus) opens with ‘Wake’, an arresting,
Ambit x George Szirtes
Ambit chews the fat with the Hungarian-born poet Born in Budapest in 1948, George Szirtes moved with his family to
Nisha Ramayya reviews Kayombo Chingonyi
The Color Of James Brown’s Scream – taken from New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set published by Tatu (2016)
Rachel Chanter reviews Matthew Siegel
Blood Work published by CB editions (2015) Much of the reception of Matthew Siegel’s debut collection Blood Work (CB editions)
Robert Selby reviews Andrew Motion
Peace Talks published by Faber & Faber (2015) In Robert Frost’s poem ‘The Most of It’, the backwoodsman desires not
Thea Hawlin reviews Emma Hammond
The Story of No published by Penned in the Margins (2015) Emma Hammond’s eye on contemporary society is acute, both
Imogen Cassels reviews Arabella Currie
The Divers published by Hurst Street Press (2016) The poems of The Divers (Hurst Street Press), Arabella Currie’s debut pamphlet, put gentle
/ /
A poem by Mary Jean Chan My mother lays the table with chopsticks & ceramic spoons, expects you to fail at
Awkward Bumping in the Theory District
A poem by Nisha Ramayya In losing halves, the materiality of the reading experience mediates the sincerity of your voice.
Say Love Say God
A poem by Zeina Hashem Beck I liked the idea of an impossible love. I was told a love so
Camille Ralphs reviews Fred D’Aguiar
Letters to America is published by Carcanet Press (2020) Derek Walcott’s influence on contemporary poetry has never been as pronounced
He Waits for No One
A poem by Mahmoud Darwish, translated from Arabic by Fady Joudah He waits for no one,he doesn’t feel a deficiency
Methinks The Poor Town Has Been Troubled Too Long
A poem by Anne Carson Light on the brick wall and a north wind whipping the branches black.Shadow draws the
Standing Female Nude
A poem by Carol Ann Duffy Six hours like this for a few francs. Belly nipple arse in the window light,he
The Bonfire
A poem by Elizabeth Jennings It is burning the winter away.The smoke is coming like clouds over sea,It has its
Too Many Flesh Suppers
A poem by BS Johnson And should she die tonight, with this three years’ difference as well between us now? Or