Reviewed By Mike Green - Editor Expose'd

"From the start, this collection showcases Vivien's ability to draw vivid and sustainable mental images. These images remain long after the books white covers have been closed. "Promise" is a great title to open the collection, it has been chosen wisely and correctly, as this promise is never broken. The collection gains momentum rather quickly, with a mixture of short and long narratives. These are interspersed with carefully chosen plates which complement rather than distract. The poetic content are mainly reflections and stories written from a personal angle, but not secular, Vivien's work is always accessible.

I have to choose my favourites so "What is needed", "False start" and "Ivory" get my vote.

The collection ends quite poignantly with "Dove". Peace, tranquility, the idea of collecting a branch to show that all is well. Vivien, let your own dove fly away to bring back another collection.

One is just not enough".

Reviewed by Sue Tordoff, Writer

"I like the mixture in this collection, the haiku-like Letter and Elephants contrasting with the longer narrative poems like Bread of Life and False Start. The first encapsulate moments, events, while the story-telling quality of the second is always captivating, making the reader want to know what happens next.

But what stands out for me is the use of nature as symbolism for the spiritual. This is done in such a natural way, never contrived; it has to be part of her outlook on life."

Reviewed by Idris Caffrey - CARILLON 9 March 2004

No doubt Vivien has her own reasons for self-publishing *PROMISE*. It is indeed a very pleasant looking booklet, well presented and with some excellent illustrations by the poet herself. Twenty-three poems are included in this slim booklet, many having previously been published in good poetry magazines like The Frogmore Papers, Envoi, Carillon, Orbis, Iota and Poetry Monthly. The plainness of her language is refreshing, rare for a graduate of English Literature. A poem I particularly liked was Gulag Camps with its memorable last two lines -

I fall into a pit riddled with permafrost

where a single star links me with creation.

50 Year Plot is a long poem, which traces the fifty years in the development of a garden. A good and ambitious idea, but one which Vivien largely pulls off. I enjoyed many of the poems but would have liked a little more depth in some of them. An exception however is So You Have M.E., a very moving poem and the best of the collection -

But you have a radio upstairs,

a television downstairs

and a book to read,

if you are lucky -

on a good day.

Today is a bad day.

Vivien Steels is a good emerging poet whose work gets stronger as time goes by. I look forward to reading a complete collection one day.