Welcome to The Book Bag Poetic Voices. As this month marks the first year anniversary of the Poetic Voices feature, I thought I’d do a small retrospective and share of one poem per poet from the past year.

Echoes if you will.

To say I am delighted how the first year has gone would be an understatement. Reading, sharing and nominating poems to be recognised has been a massive highlight for me. The fact that I have been able to spotlight poetry icons who have been so kind and forthcoming with their work has been an absolute joy. The variety of work has been broad but the quality has been consistently excellent. My thanks go to all those who have trusted me with their work from poets to presses and everyone in between.

In June, I featured Matthew MC Smith as the inaugural Poetic Voice. I am sharing this poem from his feature, which was also nominated for a Forward prize.

In August 2025, I was thrilled to celebrate and share pages from A Hobby of Mine by one of my poetry heroes Rishi Dastidar (available here). This is from page 9. The book is a list poem, underpinned by subversive humour.

In September I was honoured to spotlight work from Beast by the tremendously talented and kind icon of poetry Pascale Petit. The following piece is The Lammergeier Daughter. You can buy Beast from Bloodaxe Books here.

I’ve ordered Carson Wolfe’s latest book and will be reading it for my regular Book Bag series soon. I was chuffed to have a selection of poems from Carson in October. I am re-sharing this piece which was first published in the Best New Poets Anthology 2024. This is While Wishing She Was Dancing To Kate Bush.

Back in November, I was delighted to share work by the excellent Rebecca Goss from her incredible collection Latch (available here). It is a masterclass on place and identity. I selected Weir as the echo from Rebecca’s feature.

In December, I shared work from Sculling by Sophie Dumont (available here). One of the main themes in Sculling is how one can live on through a selfless act of organ donation by saving others. Because of this, I wanted to raise some awareness for Organ Donation, which is a vital service that can help save lives. In the UK, information can be accessed here: https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/.

In February, I was lucky to be able to share some original work from the jocular and charming Paul Connolly. One of his pieces, I nominated for a Forward prize, which I am echoing today, I am always struck by Paul’s use of language.

In March, I shared original work from the exemplary Vikki C which resulted in a Forward nomination for her poem Morningfall. So, yes you guessed it…

In April, I was elated to be able to share work from #MOTH by Eleanor Holmes (available here) and an original piece of writing. #MOTH is a stunning book and I highly recommend people buy a copy, it is exquisitely produced. For Eleanor’s echo, I am sharing one of my favourites from the book…

And that brings us to our most recent Poetic Voice, the enigmatic and super busy Rachel Turney who shared original work and pieces from Retired Wannabe Club Kid (available here). Her original pieces were After poems of my work. My ego isn’t that big to share one of those even though they are fantastic. I am echoing this piece which warmed my heart…

So there we have it. If you haven’t read all the Poetic Voices, you can find them here. I can’t wait to share more Poetic Voices from July.

Stay tuned…

There’s lots more to come.

Stay Poetic & Be Kind

Paul