E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

Abigail O'Hanlon reviews The Mind-Body Problem by Ka th a Pollitt I am acquainted – if perhaps less well than I ought to be – with Descartes ’ mind-body problem of reconciling the seemingly intangible mind with the physical body. Even before Pollitt’s second collection is opened, then, it declares itself to be dealing with heavy subject matter, so the titular poem comes as a refreshing surprise as it becomes apparent it is not quite what you might expect from the title. The problem addressed here is not strictly of the mind and body but, rather, between them: that my body had to suffer because I, by which I mean my mind, was saddled with certain unfortunate high-minded romantic notions that made me tyrannize and patronize it like a cruel medieval baron The idea of youthful anxiety over self-image is not a new one. In fact, it i s so well established by now it risks becoming tiresome, but what Pollitt does in this poem, as in this whole collectio...

Eyewear has read a lot of poetry books, and yet had never heard of John Haynes . Just like Byron woke up "one morning" to "find himself famous" in London's vicious literary circles, though, Haynes has emerged, blinking, into the light - to ask someone for a poetry reading. I will ask him to read. In the meantime, though, I need to first find and read his latest collection, which has somehow bested Seamus Heaney's superb Distict and Circle . Acording to his publisher's web-site, "John Haynes spent 1970 to 1988 as a lecturer in English at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria where he founded the literary journal Saiwa . Now back in the UK, he has continued teaching, writing and publishing and is the author of a number of books: on teaching, style and language theory, as well as African poetry, stories for African children, and two other volumes of verse. He has also won prizes in the Arvon and National Poetry competitions." The Costa judges must...