Review by Keith Massey
Kate Collier, also known by her performance name of Allie Rocket, describes herself as a pub poet and all of these poems have the immediacy and conviction necessary for an engaging performance, but it is also an illuminating experience to read them on the page.
There is a wide range of subjects and settings. The great strength of this collection is its presentation of the everyday through a sharply original vision. In the first section, which is a chronicle and response to the pandemic, wind turbines:
‘ talk to each other/ two metres apart it seems to me….’
The different psychological demands and strategies for coping with the Covid-19 lockdowns are pungently and poignantly evoked, from the resilience of ‘ My Birthday ‘ to the bleak surrender of ‘ Only Day 4 ‘.
The ‘Bitter’ part of this Cocktail of poetry presents forceful indictments of corruption, negligence and injustice; poems like ‘ Perished at sea ‘ and ‘ Black is the colour ‘.
The ‘Sweet’ content includes poems celebrating the restorative power of the natural world; goldfinches are ‘ flying good luck charms’.
Altogether, Kate’s collection is an original, well mixed drink !
Kate’s Poetry collection is available on Amazon
