Sylvia Perry is a poet of the over-looked moment – of the delicacy and nuance in the ordinary and everyday. She writes with clarity, her words chiming small events, understanding and marking beauty or emotional response. Her hospital sequence is unguarded and utterly plain – and should be on the syllabus of every medical student and NHS manager – offering a heartfelt and accurate account of life in a ward. This is a strong and very honest voice.
– Rose Flint
It’s great to finally see this accomplished selection of Sylvia Perry’s own poetry, the author being someone who has facilitated other people’s work for quite some time. These poems grow out of consideration for how things are; they share in our commonality of social concern; and, importantly, they listen to people.
– Graham Hartill
ISBN: 978-1-909404-07-6 40 pages, booklet. Retail Price £5.95 Price in PS shop just £5.
Sample poem:
Pimlico Pavement
You made a bed on the fourth step,
cardboard to keep out the cold,
scant possessions
but a fine view –
out and over the playing fields.
Here you sit and draw
with coloured pens on white paper,
bright childlike images
that fall from your lap
to join the autumn leaves.
As I pass you sit hunched
furiously flicking pages
of a cheap magazine,
not reading, not seeing,
shutting yourself away.
Sunday I look down from my window,
and see you lying on your back
in a patch of sunlight,
smoking, gaze fixed
on the beautiful blue sky.
