Enjoyed reading these poems

I very much enjoyed reading this volume of Sue’s McFarlane's poetry. She outlines in the introduction her reasons and motivations for writing it, alluding to the year 2020 as a one of profound change, reflection and catharsis. We read how she discovered her creative side and she has deployed this to considerable effect.

Sue invites us to think of the volume as a chocolate box and this is apt - the contents are all worth a taste but we are bound, as she says, to have a few favourites, and I do. “Rocking” vividly evokes feelings of reflection on a sunlit evening. I love the idea of the mind having a ceiling lit by sunlight. Although this, like all of the poems is heavily personal, it struck a distinct chord with me. In “When I Return,” there is a lovely sonnet-like turn at the end of the poem. Imagining a second life as a tree, Sue charts how she would root and grow and be put to use as a “few planks” for man to walk on, “not knowing … that I was once one of those who would tread without thought of the trees that grew underfoot…” The tree’s wooden ignorance mirrors our own as we unthinkingly harness its strength.

There is a great deal to like in this book. With an emphasis on imagery from the natural world set in a context of human experience, it succeeds in celebrating life and the appreciation of life.

- Amazon customer

My Words for Living by Sue McFarlane

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