The jacket of this collection of poetry is jazzy, snazzy but with a sense of darkness, so is this what to expect of the ‘innards’?

God and Lipstick sets the tone. It plays on red lipstick, on numbers, on age, on a past where people were only numbers, without mirrors to see themselves. On release they were gifted a consignment of lipstick.

I happen to know of someone to whom this happened, on release from a German wartime death camp. That lipstick restored humanity to women prisoners.

An interesting poem, with shades of light and dark.

The Ballad of Ek en Jy summons up the South African night, and the disappointment of their lives. This seems to be a theme that repeats. ‘Where is God?’

But Red Lipstick and Revelations is also liberally interspersed with those moments we all know. In Intruder, dead flying ants are found beneath the sill, but how did they enter the pristine house? Indeed, how does anyone or anything enter into our world, which we think  so inviolate?

Silver Surfing: searching google for the one that got away, or just the one who was once important. You find that, like you, he’s aged, and you can release the memory of the glorious youth he once was. You can let go.

 

I think you’ll enjoy this collection. It’s interesting and thought provoking.

Mother’s Day is coming up. Might be one to consider.

 

Red Lipstick & Revelations by Jan Moran Neil. pb £7.99 available from Amazon.co.uk