José-Flore Tappy: ‘The Mediterranean, the arid lands, the most deserted landscapes, or the poorest landscapes. This is where my imagination goes and where I recover my roots. I have spent many moments of my life on one of the Balearic islands, and I came of age in the midst of an environment that was at once solar and maritime’

G Kim Blank: ‘In the end, with Keats’s quick scripting of Brown’s helter-skelter storyline, nothing comes of the play, though, while in Shanklin, Keats does push into some other projects with more lasting poetic value, most notably, Lamia.’

John Matthias: ‘Although Proust does not provide, as Justice does, an actual score, his analysis of the little phrase is quite specific. “He had realized that it was to the closeness of the intervals between the five notes that composed it, and to the constant repetition of two of them, that was due this impression of a frigid and withdrawn sweetness.”’

Rae Armantrout: ‘I’ll read any good book at the edge where research science brushes up against ontology. And, yes, I have gotten ideas, facts, quotes from this reading to use in poems.’

Igor Webb: ‘It’s in “Some of Her Things,” a fable in the form of a long prose poem, written shortly after Diana’s death, that Matthias’ most powerfully, and poignantly, deploys his language and his craft. To borrow Michael Hofman’s word, it is a courtly threnody for lost time.’

Raphael Rubinstein: ‘In June 1936, having left Paris for the town of Saint Benoît-sur-Loire some 100 miles to the south, Max replies testily to Edmond who has asked him for help in publishing his poetry. “You cruelly offend me [the words “cruelly offend” are underlined three times] in taking me for a bureau of recommendations. I am a searcher like you. You only remember me when you need me. O naked cynicism!! ‘The others’ have gotten me used to the most adroit hearts. And I thought you more refined. Disappointment!”’