Hello scribblers! Today we close the blog tour for the talented poet that is Victoria Bennett and her Indigo Dreams chapbook, To Start The Year From Its Quiet Centre, which is in memory of her mother Maureen Bennett.
These poems are an intimate meditation on love and loss, told by a daughter as she cares for her mother through terminal mesothelioma. The poet invites the reader to be witness to the private moments of dying, from the physical reality of caregiving through to the alchemy of death, telling the story of a relationship between women that is transformed through grief.
Honest, unsentimental, and quietly uplifting.
“Exquisite poems, tough and tender in turns. These are moving meditations on loss and loving-kindness by a daughter to her mother: a gift to anyone who is alongside a loved one in their dying time.” - Tanya Shadrick, Editor of ‘Wild Woman Swimming’
Let's see what the bloggers this week thought!
Bookmarks and Stages (Lou): "The weight of loss and watching someone deteriorating in illness is framed well. There is a poem of how bulbs are planted, that is uplifting and also one called “After The War, The Battle Comes” about how your loved one never 100% leaves you as elements are within you." Full review here.
"The poems don’t stop with the mother’s death but continue into a life adjusting to her absence. Victoria Bennett has created a fine tribute."
@Emma_Lee reviews
#bookshappythoughts "The poems really evoke a sense of love, loss and despair. After losing my own mum to cancer 13 years ago the words really did trigger that sense of grief, devastation and the feeling of complete helplessness! The hardest thing of all is that when your world has come crashing down the rest of the world continues to spin and lives on!"
"I think that there can be an authenticity to showing all the sides of caregiving and grief. There were often moments of tenderness, and joy, even in the most painful of times" - Victoria Bennett was interviewed by Broken Spine Arts here
"As someone who also wrote poetry to help me with grief, I know how challenging and heartbreaking it is to write about the loss of a loved one so I want to say a massive thank you to Victoria Bennett for sharing such personal moments with us." - Silvxr Reviews in full here
And those are just a handle of the praise the poetry received this week!
Victoria Bennett is such a talent - you'd be silly not to grab yourself a copy below and indulge in her compassionate collection.
Links to buy -
Waterstones - https://www.waterstones.com/book/to-start-the-year-from-its-quiet-centre/victoria-bennett//9781912876389