Praise and Poems

Voted one of the Guardian reader’s Books of the Year, 2007

As with so much in this absorbing book, the title opens onto other, more painful and more puzzling perspectives. Touch and taste, history and healing, are thematic in Jenner’s poetry, which is ultimately about (im)mortality and bloody Time itself
James Keery, PN Review (193)

About Bloody Time is brilliant, full of tactical love of language, attractively drawn to events and arts as well as to the terrible obligations of pastoral and ethical. Best point is that page after page there are things I’m glad I’ve encountered and almost as frequently signs emerge which are new to me and happily met.
Peter Porter

Rich and complex. For me there are essentially two kinds of ‘difficult poetry’—material I find worth engaging with…and that which I don’t. Jenner’s work is very clearly in the first category
Steve Spence, Stride

‘Xenakis’, for instance, is a classic
Andrew Duncan

There is genius in this poetry
Martin Seymour-Smith

‘Schoenberg’s System’ is a concise, imaginative and completely true poem… In a thoroughly admirable way, this work is miles from the prevailing styles admired in this country at the moment… It’s hard to guess which poets have been an influence… There’s some very good poetry here
Peter Porter

Simon Jenner is a serious and witty writer. His work is difficult but rewards close attention… There may well be a considerable new poet on the horizon. In my opinion, his best work is yet to come.
Robert Nye