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Talking Out My Arse
Poems inspired by Crohn's Disease, Hospitals, Public Toilets, Food / Drugs.
- GenresPoetry
43 pages, ebook
First published August 1, 2016
27 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 10, 2017
In these poems, all of the agony, frustration, and anger that are part of Andy Carrington's experience with Crohn's Disease are conveyed with sharp, cynical humor and heart...cathartic poetry that holds nothing back.
August 1, 2016
I’ve now read a fair few of Andy Carrington’s poetry books, and the things that have resonated with me most are his main themes of social injustice, bigotry and politics – but there are always other poems in those collections which are more personal and often deal with Andy’s experience of suffering from Crohn’s Disease, so it was good to read this book where the priority themes are flipped. So, the main running topic of Talking Out My Arse (man, you’ve got to love that title) is Crohn’s and everything related to it, such as hospital food, needing the toilet, loneliness, the problems of the NHS and uncaring doctors, but these poems still have as much edge to them as Carrington’s more political poems, and you’ll still find plenty of rants at the system throughout.
They say ‘write what you know’ and this book’s a good example of why that maxim is true. If you write about the personal: honesty, truth and originality will shine through. It doesn’t really matter what Andy is writing about though, his poetry is simply damn good. He also manages to inject a lot of humour into this book and I found myself laughing out loud on several occasions – not an easy feat when writing about a serious subject such as having Crohn’s.
Anyone who’s suffered with Crohn’s Disease or another serious illness will surely relate to Talking Out My Arse and find some comfort in hearing about someone else’s experience first-hand. But this book isn’t limited to that demographic at all – readers of Andy’s other books will surely love this as much as his others. Like I said, this is simply damn good poetry, so actually Andy Carrington isn’t Talking Out His Arse at all.
They say ‘write what you know’ and this book’s a good example of why that maxim is true. If you write about the personal: honesty, truth and originality will shine through. It doesn’t really matter what Andy is writing about though, his poetry is simply damn good. He also manages to inject a lot of humour into this book and I found myself laughing out loud on several occasions – not an easy feat when writing about a serious subject such as having Crohn’s.
Anyone who’s suffered with Crohn’s Disease or another serious illness will surely relate to Talking Out My Arse and find some comfort in hearing about someone else’s experience first-hand. But this book isn’t limited to that demographic at all – readers of Andy’s other books will surely love this as much as his others. Like I said, this is simply damn good poetry, so actually Andy Carrington isn’t Talking Out His Arse at all.
April 8, 2020
I'm not really sure what to say about this collection, I had heard of Crohn's disease before (in fact I thought it was called Chromes disease) but I knew nothing about it. This amazingly honest book has really opened my eyes and I am shocked about the fact there is no cure and it is unknown what even causes the condition. It is so damaging to a person on so many levels, it's not just their health that is affected.
There are no laugh out loud moments here, all my thoughts are along the lines of "bloody hell". To me Andy is a hero for standing up and telling us how it is to live with this disease, just writing this stuff must have been incredibly hard.
There are a few poems on here commenting on the NHS, praising the nurses for working in hellish conditions but still finding it in themselves to care. Best poem for me was "Shit Nugget (Jeremy Hunt)" here's hoping he got sent a copy of the poem. :-)
Everybody needs to give this book a go and hopefully it will raise awareness of the condition.
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2020...
There are no laugh out loud moments here, all my thoughts are along the lines of "bloody hell". To me Andy is a hero for standing up and telling us how it is to live with this disease, just writing this stuff must have been incredibly hard.
There are a few poems on here commenting on the NHS, praising the nurses for working in hellish conditions but still finding it in themselves to care. Best poem for me was "Shit Nugget (Jeremy Hunt)" here's hoping he got sent a copy of the poem. :-)
Everybody needs to give this book a go and hopefully it will raise awareness of the condition.
Blog review: https://felcherman.wordpress.com/2020...
February 9, 2017
First: I love the gruesome honesty, which could also just be called reality.
Second: The line breaks were done pretty well, I felt. It conveyed the emotion and made reading it out loud fun as hell.
Third: I have a greater appreciation for my healthy asshole and colon.
Second: The line breaks were done pretty well, I felt. It conveyed the emotion and made reading it out loud fun as hell.
Third: I have a greater appreciation for my healthy asshole and colon.
August 15, 2016
This is one of the many books that I have read by the author Andy Carrington, he is by far one of the most exciting writers to come along in very long time! This is particularly a very frank and open book about what Andy goes through with his condition Crohn's.
In this book he holds back nothing in telling the reader exactly how it is, so as to give you a feel of his everyday experience with the condition! If you didn't know anything about Crohn's you will now!
It's hard to pick a favourite poem from this book as they all take you through a exhilarating ride of emotions from the workings of the NHS to being stuck at a railway station.
By no means does Andy offer a solution to the condition in the poem Alternative Remedies, but to me it reads as a means of survival as such, in going some way to just getting through life as best as you can!
I can honesty say that once you meet the
Writings of Andy Carrington you won't turn back!
In this book he holds back nothing in telling the reader exactly how it is, so as to give you a feel of his everyday experience with the condition! If you didn't know anything about Crohn's you will now!
It's hard to pick a favourite poem from this book as they all take you through a exhilarating ride of emotions from the workings of the NHS to being stuck at a railway station.
By no means does Andy offer a solution to the condition in the poem Alternative Remedies, but to me it reads as a means of survival as such, in going some way to just getting through life as best as you can!
I can honesty say that once you meet the
Writings of Andy Carrington you won't turn back!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews