The Burning Bush 9, Spring 2003. (Ed. Michael Begnal. 3 Newcastle Road, galway, Ireland. €4 single copy UK and Ireland, €5 rest of the world. Cheques payable to Michael Begnal. €1 is more or less equivalent to $1.) Another solid issue of this western Irish magazine that flirts with styles that one does not usually associate with Irish writing. Most of the contributors won't be known to British and American readers, bar the late Richard Caddel, but it's a good little magazine that's worthy of attention, and the longer it keeps going the more it will become part of the fabric of Irish letters. More power to Mr Begnal.

The cover says 2002, but the volume appeared in March 2003. If you're interested in what's going on in contemporary French poetry, this publication seems essential, in that it has a comprehensive range of reviews of recent publications, many of them otherwise hard to find out about. The main reason for getting this issue, however, is the 71-page special dossier devoted to the doyenne of the French avant-garde, Anne-Marie Albiach, whose work – in translation – will hopefully be featured in a Shearsman issue before the end of the year. There's an interview with Jean Daive, and other contributions from Jean Frémon, Eric Pesty, David Lespiau, Jean-Noël Orengo, Jacques Roubaud and Francis Cohen plus bibliographic data. Given that there's still only one major study of Anne-Marie Albiach's work, this kind of special feature is very valuable. The journal is beautifully produced, and, one assumes, heavily subsidised, given the low-ish cover price. If you have enough French, and have an interest in the more innovative end of current French writing, this is the place to go.

Chicago Review 48:4 Winter 2002/3. $6, subs $18 in the USA.156pp, pb. Aptly, given the subsequent appearance of his Collected Poems (see the main Reviews page), the cover here is by Tom Raworth, and a further selection of his collages, in full colour, appears inside. Poetry by Peter Minter, Peter deRous, Mark Salerno, Claudia Keelan, among others; translations of Proust (by Lydia Davis) and of some ancient Greeks and one ancient Roman. Good essays by Benjamin Friedlander & Nate Dorward, the latter being a superlative 15-page study of Trevor Joyce's Shearsman Books collection with the first dream of fire they hunt the cold. As ever, a fine issue and, at the usual low cover price, it's a steal.

Excellent and informative reviews section coupled with (this time) a less interesting selection of poems: from which stern judgment I exempt Peter Larkin, Pete Smith & Geraldine Monk. The Gig is worth tracking as it serves as a linkage between Canada, the US, Ireland and the UK, with an inclination towards harder-edged experimental work; in short, it's a place to go to find what's happening and where things are going. At times it can get indigestible – at least for this stomach – but that's a natural hazard of the culinary territory that it inhabits. The next issue – due in May or June 2003 – is a big Tom Raworth double-issue, a match for the fine Peter Riley double-number a couple of years back, which means that it's actually a book disguised as a journal. Copies are most easily obtained from Peter Riley in the UK; elsewhere you're best recommended to go direct to the editor (go to the website by clicking on the number 12 above).

Modern Poetry in Translation 19. Iraqi Poetry Today. (2003, pb, 288pp. Editor, Daniel Weissbort; Guest Editor, Saadi A Simawe. King's College London, University of London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS. Subscriptions £22, 2 issues, UK; £26 / $40 overseas including postage). ISSN 0969-3572. ISBN this issue: 0-9533824-6-X. This is a delayed issue, though it seems to have been delayed by logistical rather than political issues as one would naturally suspect. Both Arab and Kurdish poets are included, and I cannot say whether the translations are any good. Some of them read extraordinarily badly, in fact, whereas some (but not enough) read tolerably well. Some are living proof that poetry just cannot be translated, others suggest that windows can be opened into this strange universe, just far enough for a tantalizing glimpse of an interesting 'other'. Most poetry in these two very different languages (one Semitic, one Indo-European) is formal, respecting ancient models, and thus presents the usual problems to a modern anglophone translator.

I'm not sure that the concept of Iraqi poetry actually means very much, as Iraq itself is a modern political construct. The Kurds are split amongst four countries, and one assumes that Iranian Kurds, Syrian Kurds and Turkish Kurds also write in a similar tradition. Arabic is a language for poetry over a vast area: it is unclear to me from this volume whether Iraqi poetry in Arabic differs in any meaningful way from Egyptian, say, or even Syrian poetry, and I would have thought it necessary for the editor to explain why the narrow geographical focus here was necessary on strictly literary grounds. On balance, I can't recommend this publication, courageous enterprise though it is. In any event, if read, it should be read with considerable care: the seven pages of introduction are inadequate, to say the least; many of the translations must surely be poor, as one assumes the originals can't be that bad.

Near East Review Vol. 2 N† 1, 2003. (Ed. George Messo, Faculty of Humanities and Letters, Bilkent University, 06533 Ankara, Turkey. ISSN 1303-3174, 74pp, pb, $10.) The first follow-up to the inaugural double-issue that I noted here with pleasure last year. This issue is not as wide-ranging as its predecessor, but still has some good poems by Peter Didsbury and Christopher Middleton, some solid work by Pauline Stainer and a gathering of Turkish work in translation, much of which actually appears to have survived the process. It was particularly good to see work by Oktay Rifat. There are also some Romanian poems in English translation. On balance, a less successful issue than its larger forerunner, but still promising. There is a role for a magazine like this in what was indeed once called the Near East. Ibis Editions in Jerusalem has shown itself to be an equally valuable enterprise, inhabiting the old Levant as if times had not changed, and bringing together writers from radically different backgrounds into a community of the mind; if NER could cast its perspective over the old Ottoman Empire, and tie it together with work from the Anglophone countries, it could indeed perform a useful bridging role. I look forward to future issues.

No: a journal of the arts 1 Winter, 2003. $12, 248pp, pb. Subs (2 issues) $20. Checks payable to Deb Klowden. 350 East 62nd Street, Number 4M, New York, NY 10021, USA. ISBN 0-9727453-0-0. Available from SPD. Eds. Deb Klowden & Ben Lerner. This is the first issue of a new magazine, and an impressive statement of intent. I note that it's "printed for Lost Roads Publishers", which indicates the involvement at some level of Forrest Gander and C. D. Wright, proprietors of that press and two of the most interesting poets in the US today. Great care has been taken over this publication, and the design-level is very high. There's excellent artwork (& a fine cover) by New York artist Che Chen, as well as an excellent selection of prose and poetry from a number of current luminaries (C D Wright, Rae Armantrout, Kenneth Irby, Cole Swensen, Ann Lauterbach, Marjorie Welish, Nathaniel Mackey, Michael Davidson, Lisa Jarnot, John Taggart, Craig Watson, Kent Johnson, Barbara Guest, Rosmarie Waldrop, Forrest Gander, Eliot Weinberger, plus some names that are less well known — at least to me).

In the middle of the book, extraordinarily enough, there is an entire poetry collection, 68 pages long, complete with covers, by Keith Waldrop, Songs from the Decline of the West. This is the best collection by Keith Waldrop that I've seen in several years, and it thus adds even more to the issue's desirability. An essential acquisition, basically. The website is a minimal affair so far, but it gives you the option of getting onto a mailing list for future announcements.

Osiris has been in a comfortable groove for some time, inhabiting an international space that seems utterly un-American. There's German, French and Portuguese poetry here, as well as the usual Anglo-American material. The design is much as it always was: clean, smart and tasteful, though I confess I'm finding the artwork a bit repetitious. I suppose I would really like to see this magazine fill out a little, as there's a lot of space unoccupied (albeit for good design reasons) and, with some work appearing in the original as well as in translation, that reduces still further the total original content. This time the French and Italian contributions are original-language only, while the German and Portuguese are presented in bilingual format.

Poetry Review Vol. 92 No. 4 Winter 2002/2003. £7.95, 120pp. Subs £30 UK, £40 overseas, USA $56. (22 Betterton Street, London WC2H 9BX. Eds. David Herd and Robert Potts.) Single issues £7.95 plus £1.05 p&p within the UK. Payments in sterling and dollars only; credit cards accepted.

It's taken a little while but PR has now settled down under its new editorial team. This is a good issue with a very diverting range of contents – enough to please or annoy everyone. Poetry by Michael Haslam, Andrew Duncan among (many) others, several of whom I'd not read before; essays on Russian Women Poets and A R Ammons; a review by Edna Longley of Paul Muldoon (praising the book I insulted in sour fashion in the last Shearsman – though it must be said that Professor Longley's reviews are often more about her own literary (& literary-political) concerns rather than about the book at hand); Tranter on Ashbery, and coverage too of Barbara Guest, W N Herbert, Sorley Maclean, Jorie Graham, John Wilkinson, Andrew Motion, Carol Ann Duffy, Yehuda Halevi & many others. I'm thankful too for the very positive notice of Trevor Joyce's Shearsman volume, with the first dream of fire they hunt the cold, by James Keery. The mix of material will make for uncomfortable reading in some quarters, but I think it's a good idea to confound preconceptions — even mine.

Vol. 93 No. 1 Spring 2003, 112pp. Details as above. PR continues to be a puzzle, but a very pleasant one. This magazine is now predictable only in its unpredictability. 12 months ago I would not have expected to see a serious review of (the young English avant-gardist) Keston Sutherland, covering two of his publications as well as his magazine, nor a vigorous trashing of MPT's lamentable Iraqi poetry issue (see above), nor an admirable and considered review of R F Langley's new chapbook by Andrea Brady, nor a fine (if too short) celebration of Tom Raworth's Collected Poems, nor the indefatigable Andrew Duncan on Edwin Morgan. There's also more predictable coverage of more mainstream poets from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. And the poetry? Until now this has been the weaker side of the PR redevelopment project; this issue has Ken Smith, Simon Smith, Jeremy Reed, Ed Barrett, John Latta, & Richard Price (all good), Michael Murphy & Lavinia Greenlaw (surprisingly interesting – I've never read a poem by Ms Greenlaw before that made me stop and think for more than half a second), Annemarie Austin, Beverley Brie Brahic, Jonathan Treitel & David Wheatley (less interesting, but none of them offensively so). PR is worth a subscription.

Poetry Salzburg Review 4. Spring 2003. ISSN 1561-5871. 194pp, pb, £5 / $8 / €11. Subscriptions (2 issues) £9 / $20 / €15. (Ed. Wolfgang Görtschacher, University of Salzburg, Department of English & American Studies, Akademiestrasse 24, A-5020 Salzburg, Austria). This is the first issue of PSR that I've seen, and it seems to be a successor to The Poet's Voice, edited at various times by Fred Beake and the current PSR editor. It's an interesting issue, and somewhat bewildering in its range: John Wilkinson, plus an interview by Scott Thurston with him and an essay by Thurston on him; Alexis Lykiard, William Oxley, Martin Anderson, David Miller, James Kirkup, Clive Faust, Andrew Duncan, Paul Holman, Carrie Etter, Christopher Gutkind, and others, including translations of various well-known German and Austrian poets.

Tears in the Fence 33, Autumn 2002. ISSN 0266-5816. 128pp, pb, £6. Subscriptions £15 UK, £23 offshore airmail, $25 cash USA airmail. Edited by David Caddy, 38 Hod View, Stourpaine, Blandford Forum, Dorset DT11 8TN. 34, Spring 2003. 128pp. Details as above.

Excellent reviews section and a good selection of poems in what are the best issues of this magazine that I've yet seen. Nice production in TiTF's smart new house style. The accompanying website is good to see but is marred by an over-fussy design – though that's a matter of taste. The latest issue has a very solid reviews/essay section, with contributions from Peter Robinson (on Geoffrey Hill), Jim Burns (on Greenwich Village), Brian Hinton (on Lorine Niedecker) and Martin Stannard (on Charles Hadfield and Ethan Paquin) - the latter less dyspeptic than usual. There's also a long selection of work by Peter Philpott and three poems by Jeremy Reed, plus the usual collection of lesser-known voices. This other material tends to the more conservative side of the tracks, but tends also to be well-mannered and well-written, which is more than one can say for most little magazines.

Tinfish 12, September 2002. (76pp, $8, centre-stapled. Subscriptions $20 for 3 issues. Edited by Susan M. Schultz, 47-728 Hui Kelu Street #9, Kane'ohe, Hawaii 96744, USA. sschultz@hawaii.edu ) Tinfish tries hard, and succeeds, at being a Pacific magazine — helped along by Hawaii's own melting-pot. The US, Australia, New Zealand, China, Vietnam all have representatives here, and it makes for a stimulating, and most unusual mix. Great design, too. Recommended, without reservations.

Vigil 17. ISSN 0954-0881. 44pp, £2.95, centre-stapled. Edited by John Howard-Greaves, 12 Priory Mead, Bruton, Somerset BA10 0DZ.

Uninteresting publication, typical of the average small local magazine in many parts of the UK. It does what it does competently, and no doubt provides support and focus for some local writers but, from my point of view (which is not necessarily any more legitimate than anyone else's) it does not justify its presence.

Copyright © Shearsman Books, 2003.