Best books of 2019: Poetry

Vertigo and Ghost , by Fiona Benson, Cape Poetry, RRP£10

Winner of the Forward Prize for Best Collection, Benson’s second book features a series of poems centred on Zeus. Misogynistic violence, ancient myth and modern rage confront each other in moving and dynamic verse.

The Music of Time: Poetry in the Twentieth Century, by John Burnside, Profile Books, RRP£25

Burnside, who has won countless accolades for his own poetry, here turns his pen to the poets who came before and travelled alongside him. His writing — criticism would be too impersonal a term for his style — is a rare blend, mixing equal parts intellectual rigour and engaging conversation.

Deaf Republic , by Ilya Kaminsky, Faber, RRP£10.99/Graywolf Press, RRP$16

Odessa-born, US-based Kaminsky imagines a world, the Deaf Republic, where deafness is a collective form of resistance against a military regime. Characters use sign language that bypasses their oppressors and whose physicality adds rhythm to the poetry. It’s an astounding work.

Frolic and Detour , by Paul Muldoon, Faber £14.99/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, RRP$25

Although Muldoon has been US-based for decades, Ireland’s history and landscape, characters and tragedies loom large over his new collection. The Pulitzer-winner retains his penchants for mischief — “Position Paper” follows Trumpian logic down a nonsensical path — and pop culture, with a moving elegy to Leonard Cohen and birthday tribute to Bruce Springsteen.

The Million-petalled Flower of Being Here , by Vidyan Ravinthiran, Bloodaxe, RRP£9.95

Every poem in Ravinthiran’s second collection is a sonnet addressed to his wife, but here is no lack of variety in topic or tone. From interracial love to Sri Lanka’s civil war, mental health to Brexit, the range itself speaks of the ideal spouse: the person with whom we can talk about absolutely anything.

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