Emergency Kit

"Emergency Kit is edited by two really fine poets: Jo Shapcott and Matthew Sweeney. They say they wish it had been around when they were starting out their careers, which is an interesting concept. A lot of American poets are great fans of Theodore Ruskin and poets of that ilk. Adrienne Rich, for example. A lot of Spanish poets are included. It’s international and reads almost like a book in that the poems lead on to each other. There’s an echo from the one into the next one, which makes things really interesting. It contains work by my favourite poets, like W S Graham, Edwin Morgan, Louis MacNeice and Norman MacCaig. Robert Frost is quoted as saying, ‘Poetry is a fresh look and a fresh listen’. And this is a book that I felt, yes, it’s a fresh look and a fresh listen. No. When I went into teaching, after university, the book I was given to use in the classroom was the one I’d had at school, Palgrave’s Golden Treasury of Verse , which is fine, but it’s very dry and historical. That’s the point. With these new poetry anthologies I’ve chosen, some poets are dead and some poets are living. Some are still changing. You are aware that poetry is life-affirming and that it can change you, and you can change it."