Of Mutability

The good news is that a poet has won the Costa Book of the Year prize two years in a row - for the best popular book of the year, beating out impressive novels and non-fiction.  The poet this year is Jo Shapcott - a brilliant and likeable figure who is widely admired in British poetry circles - for her first collection in a decade, Of Mutability, which, among other things, explores surviving breast cancer.  An important subject, a fine poet, and superb poems.  So, hats off to Shapcott.  The only question is - why wasn't such a loved and admired book on the ten-strong TS Eliot shortlist?  The answer, I suppose, is that the judging of poetry remains an art, not a science - so it is good that poetry prizes are as various as the poets they seek to support.  Are they as numerous as poets, too?  Almost.