Glasgow: Historical City

Donna Campbell’s first collection may be called ‘Mongrel’ but it is purebred poetry.  Her use of words, especially in the Glaswegian vernacular, combine with images to form brutally beautiful poems about aspects of life that less fearless poets might shun.  (Lesley Benzie, poet)

The three poets in this collection have a lot in common. They’re gritty, tough, their observation is born of personal experience, not all of it pleasant. That is recommendation enough but there are many moments too of pure revelation. Donna Campbell’s pearls brimming with moonlight that are the bi-product of pain, the stark beauty of Lesley Benzie’s poem about a father’s death ‘Fan she an her sester met their faither’s unbent gaze…’ and Linda Jackson picking up ‘petals of words from smart-dressed lovers’.  Such simple beauty is not easily achieved. At its best poetry can be both empathetic and transformative. This is it, at its best.

(Hugh McMillan, poet)