I have really enjoyed reading your poems, Vivien. I recognised one or two that you must have read at the Writers' Group, but I find it much better to be able to read them myself. That way I can absorb the wonderful imagery you conjure up and savour the words.

The poem Mandala intrigues me. My dictionary gives both a religious and a dream connection to the word. But your poem seems to go beyond this and also there is the picture of the Tibetan Festival costume. As to the rest, I enjoyed them all, but these were my favourites:

I remember you reading Breaking Up at the Group. 'The milk's been cancelled forever….', struck a chord with me then and again now. I feel you could almost have a one line poem in that, not only for breaking up, but for any time you lose someone. From the same poem 'A slab of heartache falls across the doorway to happiness' is a wonderful description of the heaviness you feel when you lose someone.

Give me a Pen - I love every verse. The Lake of Buttermere - Like the repetition of 'It's misty over the mountains'. And 'A line of trees is caught walking head-down along a rounded hill top.' How do you think of such evocative word pictures? Psychedelic - So clever the way you use the colours to paint the sort of images we all long for. You put so much thought into the presentation of your work. Frost - Three lines of magic. Wrap - Love it! 'Pull on cashmere shawls of words, snuggle into sweaters of similes…' and all the other blending of woolly metaphors, including the way you have 'wrapped' it around your picture.

The whole collection is very professionally presented and you have such a wide variety of styles and subjects that there is something for everyone.

Reviewed by Richard George, poet

I like virtually all your poems, so it's difficult to pick ones out. You've got a real gift for describing the natural world - I especially liked the way that what we throw away is a banquet for the fox (SUBURBAN FOX).

I really like the delicate but also powerful way you end some of the poems - SASSIE MIDWINTER and BREAD OF LIFE especially. That's a gift of yours too.

I think GIVE ME A PEN is absolutely beautiful. You've had the courage to be that simple and direct. It reminds me of Peter Russell (1921-2003), one of our most underrated poets and a great influence of mine.

BEHELD has the same quality - and WHEN I WAS YOUNG. Another ending I think is terrific is "Today is a bad day" from SO YOU HAVE M.E.