Poetry for the poets

A poet-critic from Edge Hill University has received unusual news that his two books have been published at the same time.

Professor Robert Sheppard, Professor of Poetry and Poetics and the University's Programme Leader of the MA in Creative Writing, is already an established published author and has now produced another two works.

Berlin Bursts is a collection of poemsthat feature territories as dispersed as Sheppard's local Liverpool Capital of Culture and the global city of division and political murder of the title poem. Yet a series of metapoems brings agency and wonder to the idea of the poem, always seeing the world as well as itself, in perceptual double-takes that tease away at the meaning of the poetic act. At the centre of the collection is 'Six Poems Against Death' whose lyric imperative hovers before the portals of the unknown to embrace human unfinish as the condition of our survival.

When Bad Times Made for Good Poetry is an essay of poems and presents an episodic history of an epic period in British poetry, when bad times forced political subversion and textual impaction upon its central figures and provisional institutions. Episodes cover the Poetry Wars of the 1970s; the centrality of Bob Cobbing as poetry activist; and the cultural poetics of Iain Sinclair in the 1990s. He also writes individual chapters on the poetry and poetics of Allen Fisher, Tom Raworth, John Hall, Ken Edwards, and Maggie O'Sullivan. Professor Sheppard makes use of his status as nuanced eye-witness and at times he is personal but his close listening to, and reading of, poets is detailed and illuminating.

Professor Sheppard said: "I'm delighted that Shearsman have published my two latest books together. I sometimes run one theme through a book but these are all quite different."

His inspiration for his writing doesn't come from any one source. "It could be a time, a place or simply a project I'm working on," explained Professor Sheppard. "Sometimes I will make a conscious effort to write a piece based on a specific idea, other times it will just spring from nowhere."

He added: "With When Bad Times, I decided to publish it within the poetry world as opposed to the University press, like my previous critical volumes, because I wanted them to be out there in the poetry world and to have impact on readers and writers rather than just academics. I hope that readers find both of the books stimulating and thought-provoking."

To order copies of his latest books, visit the Shearsman online store at www.shearsman.com.