Jen Dunn’s first collection of poems is a stark and, in places, raw read. Terse yet vivid lines examine a range of experiences in the life of a medical professional. The colours and sounds of an orthopaedic surgeon’s daily interventions are contrasted with the mournful internal dialogue of psychoanalysis. This collection marks the emergence of a new voice with rich experience of trauma in its variant forms, and an impressive range of poetic instruments with which to investigate those experiences.
(Andy Jackson, poet)
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There can be no doubt that Karen Macfarlane is a special talent. In All About the Surface, her closely observed, resonant poems convey the richness of the moments she explores. Whether it is open water swimming, walking a ridge, or running down the hill at Clachtoll, Macfarlane’s impressive command of her craft transports the reader into her world to live those experiences with her, to share their pleasures, to encounter their challenges and to be the wiser for having done so.
(Nigel Kent, poet and reviewer)
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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)
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Dr Linda Jackson set up a Writing Retreat in Barga, Tuscany and the poetic outcomes have now been placed in this small book.
Barga: the town, the families and the artistic community.
It is all in here.
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I want to hold Donna's words in my hands, swallow them, say them out loud. They are brutal and tender, passionate and nostalgic. They get you from the page right in the guts.
(Kirsty Taylor, poet, writer)
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