In The Event

John Birtwhistle has said that 'one writes each poem just to learn how to write it,' and insists that he 'doesn't care a dried pea for Artistic Development or Finding One's Own Voice.' The result, of course, is that a strongly recognisable voice comes through. For all their variety of forms and ideas, his poems are consistent in their visual precision, their scrupulous phrasing, and their formal clarity. These qualities are brought to everything he touches, whether it is a passing moment of...