Waving At Trains

Well, I am very happy and not a little surprised to be able to announce the publication of a volume of poetry. Waving at Trains is to be published by Lapwing, Belfast and is available to order direct from www.lapwingpoetry.com or signed copies can be obtained from me. Just email me on silentwhisper1@aol.com.
The poems are memories from my childhood and stories passed down through the family. I have never considered myself a poet, I am first and foremost a novelist, poetry is something i do if my current novel has become stale, it frees up my writers block. The poems are very personal and because of that, I thought they would have little external interest but it seems I was wrong. Dennis Greig of Lapwing says they are 'quintessentially English' and descibes the collection as 'a lovely little book, much admired already by those who have seen it.'
Here is one of my favourites, it is a memory of an old lady I used to visit when I was a teenager. She was very lonely old thing, her children grown up and moved away, I was her only visitor. She was wrapped up in her past, and believe me, what a past she had!

The Tiller Girl

I were a tiller girl once,
she said, relishing my flash of surprise;
I'd legs up t' me armpits
an' I could kick the lightshade in me mother's parlour
She pulls a spangled costume
from a tissue-lined box,
waves a photograph, yellowed with age.
I recognise the ghost of her smile.
She was a person once
but, now, rheumatism has stolen her high kicks.