I love the poetry of Michael Donaghy. If I were on a desert island and only allowed a single author's collected poems, his would certainly be on my shortlist. But Donaghy, who died of a brain haemorrhage in 2004, can be difficult sometimes - his work is metaphysical and allusive, plays tricks with the reader. In this book, Don Paterson, Donaghy's friend and editor, gives us his reading of a selection of poems. His commentaries are witty, knowledgeable and unpretentious: you feel like you're sitting in the pub, chatting about an old friend. This is a brilliant book for anyone who wants to get to know Donaghy's poems, or to know them better.
Smith: A Reader's Guide to the Poetry of Michael Donaghy, Don Paterson
Picador, 2014
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