Thank you Mike O’Brien for this lovely review of my new book, When Does the Dancing Start?
“Amanda is a valued member of the Read to write community, and pays tribute to it within the pages of this book, in the poem Rendezvous
There’s warmth in the company of these friends that transcends the simple rendezvous.
And she is right. Since its inception over a decade ago, Read to write has created a welcome home for local poets and watched many of them grow in both ability and ambition. It is a fact that without Read to Write, there would be no Sixty Odd Poets, No Starbeck Orion and no Fig Tree.
Amanda’s Poetry is often humorous, following a brisk upbeat rhyming pattern in a vein reminiscent of Pam Ayres or Victoria Wood. But it would be a mistake to dismiss her as a trivial humorous poet, particularly in the light of this collection, which includes a number of poems which break the mould and show a depth of thought and reflection that I for one had not discerned previously.
The title piece, which opens the collection, is jolly enough, but contains a yearning reminiscent of the old Peggy Lee song Is That All There Is? And scattered throughout the rest of the volume are echoes of this yearning, as Amanda tackles quite serious topics such as Mental health, human relationships, and personal identity.
Silent Scream speaks of the experience of being alone and confronting the weight of all of you swallowed down. Amanda in conversational style, asks the reader – do you feel this too? It is a piece that reaches inside and shares something personal , hitting the mark with accuracy.
Night Thunder is one of a number of poems which tackle the long hours of night its opening stanza contains a very vivid image
The first rumbles started with
The same resonance as Wheelie bins
Assembled for a street protest
Perhaps my favourite piece is Just Like Lois Lane, which whilst ostensibly about meeting someone in real life for the first time after an internet based introduction, picks up themes of identity which are explored further in The Me You See on the very next page.
I am really looking forward to Amanda’s next collection and seeing where her writing journey takes her from here.”
Mike O’Brien Manages “Sixty Odd Poets” and “Sixty Odd Poems” on Substack here