Old Things

by Ann Alexander

Ann Alexander's fourth collection of poetry has its roots in Cornwall, where she lived for 30 years with her daughter and her late husband. Many of the poems reflect the pain of loss, others the joy of birth.Ann has won several prizes, including the Frogmore Prize, Mslexia, Grey Hen and Bedford Open, and was placed third in the BBC's Poem for Britain. She worked as an advertising copywriter in London for many years, and recently moved to Stratford upon Avon.Praise for Ann Alexander’s previous collections‘Here is a poet whose work crackles with boundless energy. Her world is one of risk and daring.’Penelope Shuttle on Too Close‘Love Facing Demons. No, love is a weak word. Strongly respond.’Fay Weldon on Facing Demons‘I have not enjoyed a poetic assembly so much in years. The alternation of dry comedy and black comment, all with the same spare mastery of the language, make her stand out.’Professor Charles Thomas on Nasty, British & Short

Paperback

Published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Renata Connors · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ann Alexander's collection is poetry of the everyday - acute observations of the world around her as she goes about the usual business: watches the TV, reads the newspapers, goes shopping, potters around the house, goes for a walk by the sea. She's writing about her fears, joys, sadness, frustrations and we discover they are also ours. The tone ranges from comical or satirical to serious and like a silver thread through the whole collection weaves the grief from the loss of her husband. I think the pieces dealing with her trying to cope with that are the strongest in the book (End of, Tomorrow I will pull myself together, If only I knew where you were going). Other excellent poems, 'Watching my mother turn into a wasp' or How to know knock fifty years off your age', 'The loneliness of long distance mother' are mapping mother - child relationships.
The weakest ones are some of the light-hearted pieces, which sometimes seem unoriginal and rather shallow. (On a scale of nought to ten, Dolly Parton is five days older than me, Dichotomy woman).
I found the collection very easy to read, most of the sentiments and emotions easy to relate to, but while I was entering a familiar world and was allowed to be part of it,
I felt that all that the poems had to offer was dicovered at the first reading. Is that good or bad?

[Julia Desire · Rating 4 out of 5]

🐈‍⬛ Dead cat poem

She who flowed like mercury, or mist
over silent fields,
who had seen off foxes,
terrorized hedgerows, endangered
several species of rodent,
was now sitting on death’s lap
and feeling his cold fingers.

We stood and looked for signs of her
in the grey bundle we had petted and stroked
lugged and loved through the years.
But she was looking elsewhere
untidy for the first time,
dusty and in disarray

Strange that when we buried her
beneath a flowering bush, in the sunny place
where she loved to sit,
we could not touch her.
Scooped her up with a spade.

(from "Old Things" by "Ann Alexander")