'Not only is Penelope Kease a fine poet but she is also an accomplished artist who uses her sharp observational skills to give us detailed pictures of the folk who people her poems. ‘Bedminster Women, 1930’, for instance, gives us sacking aprons / and men’s flat caps … a clay pipe, the bowl turned/ down in case it should rain.' This, her debut collection, includes young and sudden widowhood; having to deal with cancer and its effects; supporting an ageing mother who is fiercely independent; education from within and outside the classroom and many fine poems that give life to people from old photographs. She writes beautifully about the death of her father (‘Saying goodbye to Dad’ a backwards-falling birth, magical/as a fading moon) and her mother’s need of helpJuly 2022 'I want to run to her with ice-cold cloths/swim to her through rank and soupy air'. This side of the Sea is a great collection: nostalgic but never pitiful, poems that are not afraid to face their world head-on.'
I hope you enjoy your visit, especially the examples of my poems published on this site. My recent collection, This Side of the Sea is still available to purchase for £12, inc. P&P. If you would like a copy, please contact me. If you would like it signed, please state who the purchase is for, so I can make it personal to them, (and not mis-spell their name). I usually send by 2nd class post but if you would like 1st class post, please add a further £3 for a total of £15.
I am also open to running poetry writing workshops, for which I charge the rates recommended by the Society of Authors. Again, please contact me for further details if you are interested.
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