It was a fine thing for me to find my review of Identity Parade (somewhere here below), the recent anthology, highlighted by Jane Holland at Raw Light and described as 'excellent and thoughtful'. I thought I was just a harsh critic who had missed the boat and missed the point of Roddy Lumsden's pick of the poets who have emerged since the mid-1990's.
But I've kept on trying, as promised, with the book and either it's me (most likely) or it's the poems but I still can't see that book representing the last 17 years since the last The New Poetry in the same way that similar attempts were made by Alvarez, Conquest, Lucie-Smith, Motion and Morrison or Hulse-Kennedy-Morley to represent previous brief periods. With all due respect to Roddy Lumsden's encyclopedic breadth of reading, knowledge and expertise, his anthology missed too many good poets, included too many and read too much like a portfolio of university exercises.
My lordly attempt below to radically reduce the number of names involved but include some of his omissions has moved his goalposts. One day somebody, and it won't be me, will choose a more representative anthology, or at least it is to be hoped they will. But, in the meantime, herewith, are 20 poets to represent the period since the last generational anthology, and I've used the resources Roddy provided in his book and on his website, The Poem, extensively because one has to.
In absolutely, no particular order.
Lachlan Mackinnon http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jan/09/saturday-poem-pigeon-lachlan-mackinnon
Martin Mooney http://www.ulstertatler.com/people-profiles.asp?id=197
Jane Yeh http://janeyeh3.com/default.aspx
Alice Oswald http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=authD4F18F621142f1DB24JmT18BD533
Roddy Lumsden http://www.thepoem.co.uk/poems/lumsden.htm
Sophie Hannah http://www.sophiehannah.com/poetry.html
James Sheard http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2005/nov/05/featuresreviews.guardianreview30
Kathryn Gray http://kathrynlouisegray.blogspot.com/
Kathryn Simmonds http://www.thepoem.co.uk/limelight/simmonds.htm
Sue Hubbard http://www.suehubbard.com/
Kate Clanchy http://www.thepoem.co.uk/poems/clanchy.htm
Martyn Crucefix http://www.poetrypf.co.uk/martyncrucefixpage.html
Nick Laird http://nicklaird.com/
Sasha Dugdale http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=182104
Julia Copus http://www.thepoem.co.uk/poems/copus.htm
Stuart Paterson http://www.writeoutloud.net/poets/stuartapaterson
John Stammers http://www.thepoem.co.uk/limelight/stammers.htm
Caitriona O’Reilly http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/personpage.asp?author=Caitriona+O'Reilly
Jane Holland http://www.weddingreads.com/They_Are_A_Tableau_At_The_Kissing-gate-Jane_Holland/
Colette Bryce http://www.thepoem.co.uk/poems/bryce.htm
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