Book of Matches by Simon Armitage

Book of Matches Reviews

• 
  Bookish Bethany

  Armitage. Poetry royalty. His name loomed over my university creative writing classes - we pulled apart and pieced together one of his poems about a spaceman. I liked this book, although it felt self-indulgent, perhaps too self-concious, his easy rhyme fell flat sometimes - those ABAB lines. I loved it when Armitage played with his rhyme, flipped it around, used subtle repetition.
  
  This collection, the book of matches, is about growing up - it feels both intensely personal and deeply impersonal - about passion: sex, love, death. Death underpins it all: the motif of body bags, knives, necks. It is dark but flippant. I like poetry that is affecting. Most of this collection I did not find affecting - the poems about his little hoop earring perhaps - but others were stunning. I especially love the poem about his mother - he looks out of himself and into his symbiotic relationship with the woman who raised him. That woman is interposed in the ending with the image of his soon-to-be wife, the imagery of the baby. Life replacing life.
• 
  Oliver Shrouder

  This isn’t my kind of poetry - the focus on rhyme makes a lot of the poems feel impersonal and tongue-in-cheek, so even the most emotional poems become twee. I like the concept of the book, but after a handful of pages I realised there was very little mileage in practice
• 
  Nicky

  I never used to like Simon Armitage's poetry. I don't know why. Everything in the GCSE anthology we used, I hated the look of -- we weren't studying him, but I was curious and liked poetry in general, so I read everything in there. And I didn't like it.
  
  But someone recently showed me a poem from this collection, 'I thought I'd write my own obituary. Instead', and I loved it, especially the line 'but he has wept the coins that rested on his eyes', but all of it really. So when I saw this collection in the library, I picked it up immediately. It doesn't take long to read through these poems, but they stick in the mind, from the first to the last. I didn't like all of them, but overall, I did like it, and I think I need to read more of Armitage's stuff. I might even pick up a copy of Book of Matches for my own poetry collection, some day.
• 
  BoltonEnglish

  Moments of illumination and coercion to live sentiently. Windows of warm nostalgia with the sense of lessons learned.
• 
  Megan Williams

  "Dont believe me, please, if I say that was just my butter fingered way, at thirteen, of asking you if you would marry me"
  Beautiful.
• 
  Emily Carter-Dunn

  This was a slow starter for me. 3.5 stars.
  
  The collection is divided into 3 parts. The first part is a series of poems that are really literary self-portraits which were sometimes dark. This part did not spark anything with me.
  
  The second part is a collection of poems on a number of topics, and this is the part that really sang to me. I particularly loved the the bitterness of The Lost Letter of the Late Jud Fry and Penelope. I thought these 2 poems were artfully composed and really made me think.
  
  The third part of the collection is centred around marriage (or the preparation for the big day). Whilst this was better than the first part of the book, I don't feel it held the oomph of the second part.
• 
  Monica

  Armitage is a Prokofiev of poetry! His writing is elegant and playful at the same time and full of surprising bends which explore the conditions of everyday life.
• 
  Andy Todd

  Armitage is such an easy poet to like - clear, direct delivery of a range of intriguing ideas.
• 
  María

  I don't necessarily agree, but I like this:
  
  "I can see what it takes
  to keep a friendship in the heart,
  the chest. That's
  when I like love best - not locked away
  but left unsung, unsaid.
  And then the rest."
• 
  Zara

  Some poems shared his inner thoughts, on his disease, his love life, memories, etc. Whereas other poems were clearly works of fiction but nevertheless enjoyable. A lot packed into a few lines. Very artistic. However only one or two were real treasures that evoked a response.
• 
  Jill

  this is a damn good book. simon taught me how to rhyme better and loosen up my line.
  
• 
  Astrid

  Gasp!! esp. part 1
• 
  Joel Robert

  Like Larkin and Seidel (sans the bile and dodginess) by way of Auden. Way into it.
• 
  Adrian

  I didn't quite get the bang of some of his other work, but enjoyed it
• 
  Jonathan Hart

  There is a reason he is the poet laureate! This book is full of incredible poems, many of which work together to create an extended poem. Of the three sections it was the first (and longest) section that most blew me away. Many hard hitting yet incredibly grounded poems in this collection. I would recommend that if you are to read this, read an entire section at a time, that way the thread between the poems can be seen.
• 
  Fran

  His poetry betrays his 'northern English' heritage, no bad thing; the imagery is often stark, witty, sometimes brutal like the weather, although at times hard to fathom. This is in fact probably the third time I've read this but I'm relatively new to Goodreads. I thought it was ok years ago, I still think it's ok.
• 
  Eliza

  3.5
• 
  Terji Beder

  Sections of the book were better than others.
  Some poems were very very relatable.
• 
  Hannah

  Magnificent.
• 
  H. Atmenmeer

  This is a heavier book than Kid with darker themes. He is coming into stronger techniques. Strong and moving. Trying really hard.
• 
  Iain Lennon

  Like a drummer and a singer, both with something to say.
• 
  Chris Dech

  Pleasantly personal and with his regular bit of tongue-in-cheek, Armitage neither gimmicks or goofs with this collection of poems.
• 
  brielle

  my favorite poetry book :)
• 
  Yalan

  The exorbitant shipping I paid for this was worth it.