REACTIONS TO POEMS 

Here are the comments we have received regarding the last edition of iota. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to write down their thoughts and send them to us. Most of the comments are favourable but not all. As we asked for opinions for the website, we feel we should include them, good or bad. However, if you wrote a poem that receives an unfavourable comment, remember it is all a matter of taste and opinion. What one person likes another person may not - and we liked it or it would not have been chosen from the many submissions we receive. Also remember, you can reply.

From iota 80 onwards we are publishing on the website the poem that receives the most favourable reactions in each issue (with the agreement of the poet).
iota 80

IOTA 80

It was challenging to choose favourites from such an excellent selection but I found Lydia Macpherson’s Her lovers very original and entertaining.  A Sense of Timing by Ashleigh John was especially moving, with a title that I felt really worked well. This poem stayed on my mind long after reading. Carrie by Richard Luftig caught my attention for its good use of simile and metaphor.  Also, I really enjoyed Pat Tompkins’ Noodles.  Lastly, I liked Janet’s cover photo of Lodge Farm.
Mary Franklin 

Outstanding for me was Stephen Shields' Equus and Fergus Chadwick's The wise clown. Both about masks.... odd? The simple whimsy of Nicky Hetherington's Flowers of Youth also appealed. As did Christopher W. D. Astwood's excellent Atlantic Souls. Not many second person poems work, but Robin Laffan's Lamplight had a driving-on pace to carry one through to the end and intrigued enough for one to return to the beginning. Geoffery Winch's Cul-de-Sac had me chuckle. And I applaud, Bob, your positive review of Ian Caws' collection. It is so much more difficult to give praise, and sound as if one means it, than to find fault. Here you gave sufficient reasons to succeed. Well done all round!
Sam Smith

Loved Sam Smith's poem (Word).
Anne Lewis-Smith

There is some really good stuff in iota 80. My favourites are: Equus by Stephen Shields - a good horsy tale, even if I think he started channelling Flann O'Brien (and his mollycule theory) towards the end; Word by Sam Smith - full of great ideas and images, and balls to punctuation; Braich y Pwll by Peter Bateman - I love 'the sea exporting stars' - made me think of Wallace Stevens, Our stars come from Ireland; Flowers of Youth by Nicky Hetherington - good use of the names of flowers, but not just a clever list, a proper evocative little tale; Carrie by Richard Luftig - not just for 'Gossip has become for her/ a contact sport' and 'leaning on her innuendoes/ like a cane', but for making me think of an evil Emily Dickinson; Going to the well by Mary Madec - seems to get that whole Irish rural farming family thing down in a few lines (I come from a Manx rural farming family, so I'm not just speaking as a tourist.); Her lovers by Lydia Macpherson - clever, funny, and scary as hell; B slash C by Fionnuala Harding, although capitalising the first letter of every line causes confusion (with that equivocal A) in the penultimate verse. And others I like, but those are my favourites. If I absolutely had to have just one, I think it would be Carrie, for the cleverness of the ending.
David Callin

Poems I really enjoyed were How many fingers am I holding up? (John Terry), Lamplight (Robin Laffan), How I Write (Connie Ramsay Bott), Chess Tournament, Blackpool (Terry Quinn) but most of all Ann Day's Square - exquisite and so full of enveloping atmosphere.
Geoffrey Winch

The range of poems included impressed me very much and I also enjoyed the reviews and events section (not to mention the Editor's comments - who could disagree with those?). Two of the poems I particularly enjoyed were Carrie by Richard Luftig and When Henry Dances by David Callin.
Nicky Hetherington

A wonderful Woganesque idea to feature the most voted for poem on the iota website! Here then are the votes from the Vienna, Austria jury: The Fair Toxopholites by Sally Douglas, Chess Tournament, Blackpool by Terry Quinn, Noodles by Pat Tompkins, When Henry Dances by David Callin, College Material by J S Gavin, Going to the well by Mary Madec. (Many more in iota 80 also worth a vote. Great issue. Great cover).
Gwilym Williams

There was one poem in iota 80 that leapt off the page and demanded that I read it again. In just eight lines of vivid imagery it gave new perspectives and insights. This is, surely, what good poetry is about, saying little to say a lot. This poem was Daytime Gothic by Chris Kinsey.
Peter Bateman

There is much that I like in this issue. To start with the cover photo by Janet is striking - the clouds seem to mirror the tree. As I said, there is poetry which I see as excellent and it would take too much space to comment fully. But some poems stood out on first reading. I can empathise with Fionnuala Harding's splendid B slash C - many have been there! Her lovers by Lydia Macpherson is deeply dark and Connie Ramsay Bott's How I write transformed pain into pleasure for the reader. Sam Smith's Word is a master class on form and style and tone. Others I liked were by Owen Bullock and Hazell Hills. I could go on.
Peter Day

I really enjoyed Self Portrait, Evicted by Kristina Marie Darling, Word by Sam Smith, and Square by Ann Day.
Eleanor Bentley

Poems that have received the most favourable reactions:

iota 80

Word
Sam Smith (Cumbria)