NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

This is an anthology of the winning and selected poems from Ragged Raven's ninth annual competition. Ragged Raven Press was formed in 1998, and this is a well-presented anthology. The title of the book is the title of the winning poem by Patricia Wooldridge, the opening lines of which are given below:

	The pigs chew
	on a field of stones,

	dribble pebbles
	behind the shore,

	their pursed mouths
	full of clink.

	Dun light folds over
	a bowl of sky,

The anthology contains a number of experimental-type poems and others suggesting an eclectic judging process and the wide range of poems submitted in terms of format, and subject matter. Here is the last stanza of CONTRAPTIONS by John Terry:

	For a while, the woman I called mother
	and the man I believed was my father
	would be busy inventing new kindnesses
	to please each other.  Two dedicated
	inventors, still attempting to redesign
	their machinery of impossible love.

	Half-past three; the torpid time of night.
	The room seems empty now
	where lately it was crowded.  Shrapnel-strewn
	with beer-can ashtrays, crumpled packs of crisps,
	a pizza box, split candles.  Greying crumbs.
	Discarded bottles, horizontal, point
	at dozing half-survivors, truth-or-dating
	each embarrassed kiss.  A pile of salt
	betrays the strain of one more indiscretion,
	spilt with secrets from a tipsy glass.

	From tramp to gent he transubstantiates
	himself.  Urbane utterance renovates —
	coverts a cadge to existential quiz
	when uttered with the polished charm that's his
	by archly asking anyone in range
	of his fluence: Any prospect of change?