Caboodle

by Gill McEvoy, Angela Croft, Karina Vidler

Six distinct and different voices go together to make Caboodle: six short poetry collections gathered in one volume. Each stands in its own right, each with something to say. Some whisper, some sing, some shout – but they all come together to challenge, engage and entertain. Karina Vidler, Gill McEvoy, Russell Jones, Kate Garrett, Angela Croft and Rafael Miguel Montes have created a powerful body of work for both avid and occasional readers of great poetry.

Paperback

First published February 19, 2015

About the author

Gill McEvoy has two pamphlets from HappenStance Press: Uncertain Days ( 2006) and A Sampler (2008). First collection The Plucking Shed (2010) from Cinnamon Press. Second collection Rise (2013), also Cinnamon Press. She runs several regular events in Chester: Zest! an open floor poetry night (the full team: Judy Ugonna, Leih Steggall and Angela Topping); the Poem Shed, a workshop group; the Golden Pear poetry reading group; and Poem Catchers, jointly with Judy Ugonna. She was previously Artistic Director for the spoken word section of Chester Literature Festival. She has appeared on Sky Arts TV, speaking about free verse as opposed to formal verse. Gill has given readings of her work in London, Sussex, Manchester, Liverpool, Richmond, York, Newtown, Ludlow, Shrewsbury and Much Wenlock, as well as locally. She also collaborates with singer Polly Bolton to produce ‘sung and read’ shows. She is a Hawthornden Fellow.

Reviews

[e.e. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Caboodle has a great title. It is 220 pages long - which is long for a poetry book. It's not an anthology - rather it's a collection of 6 discrete collections under one cover - by 6 different poets . It's an innovative approach by Prolebooks, a small UK Publisher. Reviews have been positive and can be found online at several literary blog sites - which give examples of the writing. I enjoyed the range of poems and subjects and approaches. A smart idea by the Prole editors was to include an excellent foreword by poet Angela Readman. She starts with this concise summary -
"It can be difficult to discover poetry sometimes, finding voices outside of our reading habits can be daunting. It can also be a struggle to be heard if you are a poet. Persuading readers who may be unfamiliar with a certain poet to give the work a try can be a problem for readers and publishers alike. Prole offers a solution to the problem, by publishing the collections of six poets in one book we are provided with the opportunity to dip into six different works. The collections range from the gritty urban realist, to the lyrical, and slightly surreal."
And she then continues with a paragraph on each poet's collection and makes a couple of observations that I found useful - and I think most readers would too.