Friendly Street New Poets 9

Jill Gloyne’s collection of fine poems, Peeling Onions, sloughs the paper-thin skin off life then, layer after layer, pares it down to the heart … There is beauty, grace and style in these poems and images that fix in the mind’s eye.

Judith Ahmed’s poems in Crescent Moon Caught Me opened doors to a way of life and living about which I knew very little and offered a point of connection, the opportunity of knowing and understanding … She explores traditions and rituals in images that startle with their beauty, shock with their ferocity and sing in rhythms new and powerful.

In her collection, Scoffing Gnocchi, Linda Uphill offers a bright young voice that bounces over the uneven, sometimes chaotic terrain encountered as life moves into young adulthood. There is wonder here and humour, pain and confusion. As the young say, ‘I can relate to that.