On the viewless wings of poesy

Gillian Allnutt For energy and courage in the face of death and in the going on alone, for humour too, try Ellen Phethean's Breath (Flambard) or Andrea Porter's A Season of Small Insanities (Salt).

For thoughtful, quiet attentiveness to life on earth, and that's a form of love, read Janet Sutherland's Hangman's Acre (Shearsman) or Caroline Natzler's Smart Dust (Grenadine)."

Gillian Allnutt's latest collection is How the Bicycle Shone: New and Selected Poems.

Ian McMillan I read so many novels and collections of stories and poetry over the year that something has to really grab me to stand out. Planisphere (Carcanet), the latest book by the unquenchably brilliant American poet John Ashbery, arrived late in the calendar but made me dance with joy because of its use of found language, of overheards, of the New York skyline and of the idea that a poem isn't a puzzle or a story, it simply is."

Ian McMillan's latest book is Talking Myself Home.

Kevin Cadwallender Many fine books this year. Favourites? Gerard Rudolf's Orphaned Latitudes (Red Squirrel Press), expansive and evocative.

The Opposite Of Cabbage by Rob McKenzie (Salt), effortlessly brilliant.

Much admiration for Ellen Phethean's Breath (Flambard) and Roddy Lumsden's Third Wish Wasted (Bloodaxe) - excellent. If I didn't have these I'd buy them."

Kevin Cadwallender's latest book is Dances With Vowels.

Anne Stevenson Since new poetry, for me, needs a year to season, I have only just begun to appreciate George Szirtes's New And Collected Poems and Ruth Stone's What Love Comes To (both published by Bloodaxe). This year I was delighted to welcome Tom Rawling's How Hall, a richly illustrated book of farm and war poems published by Lamplugh and District Heritage Society. As an ideal Christmas gift, let me add Shoestring Press's surprise for seasoned poetry-lovers, The Georgians, 1901-1930, edited for contemporary tastes by Merryn Williams. "

Anne Stevenson's latest book is Stone Milk.

Cynthia Fuller Ellen Phethean's Breath (Flambard) reminds us how poetry can voice the most devastating experience. Sadness and anger are balanced by clear-sightedness and sheer poetic skill. Linda France's Book Of Days (Smokestack Books) slows us down to moments, with a renga verse for each of 365 days - a delicate patchwork of images, thoughts, observations." Cynthia Fuller's latest book is Background Music. Tom Leonard In Gerry Loose's That Person Himself (Shearsman), a shapeshifting figure travels from the Nevada of atomic bomb testing to the Japan of their devastating implementation, finally affirming the natural world. Jayne Wilding's Sky Blue Notebook From The Pyrenees (Calder Wood) is a quietly beautiful sequence from that world." Tom Leonard's latest book is Outside The Narrative. George Szirtes Leaving out the Eliot list, the following seem to me fascinating and surprising collections - Vona Groarke's dazzlingly wrought Spindrift (Gallery Press), JO Morgan's Natural Mechanical (CB Editions), a striking narrative poem, Katharine Kilalea's One Eye'd Leigh (Carcanet), fresh, clear and edgewise, and Samuel Menashe's New and Selected Poems (Bloodaxe). Menashe should be far better known." George Szirtes's latest book is The Burning Of The Books And Other Poems. Alan Dent The most interesting poetry book of the year for me was Kevin Cadwallender's Dances With Vowels (Smokestack), full of wit, verbal legerdemain, charm and bite. Cadwallender is one of those small press survivors who gets on with it in spite of being ignored by the mainstream and to have this selection of his work from the past 25 years together with some new pieces is a delight. I shall be re-reading this after my Christmas pudding." Alan Dent edits the magazine Penniless Press. Mike Horovitz The death of Adrian Mitchell just before Christmas 2008 robbed planet Earth of a uniquely dedicated and uncompromising witness for its defence. Tell Me Lies: Poems 2005-08 (Bloodaxe) is a culminating bran-tub from his benignly explosive steelpan-drum of a pen which will, along with its many predecessors, energise immeasurably the continuity of his lifelong struggles for universal harmony, peace and love." Mike Horovitz's latest book is A New Wasteland. Ellen Phethean Pippa Little's Foray, Border Reiver Women (Biscuit) are poems about the women who kept their families and traditions alive despite the hardships and fierce life of the Border clans. They are full of the landscape and the ballads, stories of those "who by blade abide." Poems "whispered into being by a woman's breath." A beautiful, musical and coherent gem from a small independent press that keeps the embers of poetry burning." Ellen Phethean's latest book is Breath. David Betteridge My choice for 2009 is a handsome new edition, from Bloodaxe, of a book-length poem about Bloodaxe, and about much else besides, ranging from a Quaker meetinghouse in Cumbria to the uncertain limits of Alexander's empire. First published in 1966, Basil Bunting's Briggflatts is a gorgeously musical and heart-felt masterpiece." David Betteridge's latest book is Granny Albyn's Complaint.