The statue of King Alfred at Winchester Image: Shutterstock Eþandun Epic Poem William. G. Carpenter, Beaver’s Pond Press, 2021, 252pp LIAM GUILAR finds much to admire in an ambitious new epic of Alfred, but fears it misses the mark Eþandun ((The title, with a modernised spelling would be Ethandun. The place of the battle is…
This is Part 3 of LIAM GUILAR's still-being-written epic of Britain. Chapter 1 was published in Long Poem Magazine #25 Spring 2021, and you can read Chapter 2 in the previous issue of The Brazen Head. The story so far: 449 AD. The Roman province of Britannia is tottering. The Legions have long gone and…
MICHAEL YOST is a teacher, freelance essayist and poet. He lives in rural New Hampshire with his wife and two sons. Samson’s Riddle From the stench of rotting hide, From the hot and muscled weight of death, From the hunter’s tawny jaw, From the ancient eater’s mottled mouth, Comes wealth of peace; Comes a…
GREG HUTESON's poems have appeared in or are forthcoming from Orbis, The Honest Ulsterman, A New Ulster, the Alabama Literary Review, Trinity House Review, BigCityLit, and various other journals. For the past 20 years, he’s lived in China and Taiwan. The Break of Day Though still, I’m ringed by flocks of middling angels, smudged guardians…
Brazen Head Poetry Editor LIAM GUILAR is writing a Legendary history of Britain. Chapter One will appear in Long Poem Magazine in June 2021. This is Chapter Two from the story of Vortigern; Chapter Three will appear in the Summer issue. Further details about the Legendary history can be found at www.liamguilar.com The story so far…
The Cumaean Sibyl, by Elihu Vedder, 1876 The Aeneid: A New Translation Shadi Bartsch, Profile Books Ltd., 2020, 400 pages [Book VI only for this review] Aeneid Book VI Seamus Heaney, Faber and Faber, 2016, 53 pages LESLEY SAUNDERS compares two notable translations of The Aeneid’s pivotal Book VI It feels peculiarly apt, and particularly…
LIAM GUILAR likes a radical reimagining of a venerable Welsh work Isolated in Aber Cuawg Harry Gilonis, Oystercatcher Press, 2020, 19 pages ‘Claf Abercuawg’ is a Welsh poem composed perhaps in the ninth century. Claf, as a noun, means a sick person, a patient or a leper . Abercuawg is an area of north…
CAROLINE DAVIES has an MA in Writing Poetry from the Poetry School and Newcastle University. Her books are Elements of Water (Green Bottle Press 2019), Convoy(2013) Voices from Stone and Bronze(2016) (Cinnamon Press). She co-hosts the Ouse Muse poetry readings (Bedford) currently taking place online. These poems are from her latest project, Strange Alchemy, poems…
DANIEL GUSTAFSSON has published volumes of poetry in both English and Swedish, most recently Fordings (Marble Poetry, 2020). Much inspired by the beauty and history of both his native and adoptive shores, exploring themes of cultural and spiritual regeneration derived from Blake and Scruton, among others, Daniel's increasingly formal work also shows an interest in alliterative verse.…
JANET KENNY is very old. She has been an opera and concert singer, anti-war activist, editor, publisher's researcher and food writer. Born in New Zealand, sang in the United Kingdom, agitated in Sydney and now watches birds in Queensland. Her poems have been widely published. She co-edited, compiled and wrote Beyond Chernobyl published by Envirobook;…