NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

An independent small press poetry review

NHI independent review
ANN O'NEILL: THE SUGAR FACTORY
Diamond Twig
5 Bentinck Road
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE4 6UT
UK
ISBN 0 9548186 4 1
£5

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This page last updated: 11th December 2007.
ANN O'NEILL: THE SUGAR FACTORY

An entertaining collection which mixes autobiographical poems recalling childhood memories and detailing incidents from later life, together with updates of myths and fairy stories, and reactions to works of art.

I like the way childhood misconceptions are evoked, as in SEA COAL:

	I thought it was netted and trawled
	like shoals of fish
just as, equally effortlessly, older age is captured as in DRESSING DOWN:
	Practise twinkling over your half-glasses
	'til Boxing Day, you're not convincing,
	not jolly or fat and all that red clashes
	with your complexion, and don't sing
	Jingle Bells, you're tone deaf.
It's a very engaging collection showcasing a quiet voice that doesn't need to shout to make itself heard.

reviewer: John Francis Haines.