Having experienced this book's gestation and now birth, it was with some trepidation I opened the Amazon package yesterday. By the end of the day I had read the whole collection, and while it is in parts very hard, angry and quite viscious, it is also loving, caring and moving (in a good way). The hard-core poems are interspersed with beautifully written intercessionary 'prayers' and the contrast is hugely effective.
Susan is nervous about reaction to her personal work. Somehow it is not too difficult to distance oneself from the personalities, acknowledging some truths and wondering if there is not a degree of poetic licence, or rather hoping.... The poems are so deeply felt, that it is difficult not to respond in restorative mood. Don't feel so much pain...try not to despair or over-analyse. But then, we wouldn't have this fabulous collection which are never bland, never trite and always moving. Naturally it is easy to identify with poems about grandchildren and children. I hope that they will appreciate where they come from as much as I do.
I think Susan deserves to do very well with this, her second, book of poems. I shall be doing all I can to promote her success.
