Choosing to be a Swan by Connie Bensley
Connie Bensley’s poems are sharply satirical, often poking fun at social pretence and suburban pretension. They present a comedy of manners in which her characters are bounced between love, death and the local supermarket. Choosing To Be a Swan touches on the preoccupations of our everyday life, from cars and carpets to children and cricket. This new collection by one of Britain’s wittiest poets includes Wheel Fever, a hymn to the bicycle, which was shortlisted for the Arvon/Observer International Poetry Competition in 1994. Inspired by the diary of a Victorian schoolmaster, it evokes the world of a young man lucky enough to get what he wants – a Coventry bicycle, the latest 1877 model – and to go on loving it, despite hard knocks.
Connie Bensley was born in south-west London, and has always lived there, apart from wartime evacuation. Until her retirement she worked as a secretary to doctors and to an M.P. and as a medical copywriter. Her latest book from Bloodaxe is Finding a Leg to Stand On: New & Selected Poems (2012), which presents new work with poems drawn from six previous collections: Progress Report and Moving In, originally published by Peterloo Poets, and four later books published by Bloodaxe: Central Reservations (1990), Choosing To Be a Swan (1994), The Back & the Front of It (2000) and Private Pleasures (2007).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781852243142 |
| ISBN 10 | 1852243147 |
| Title | Choosing to be a Swan |
| Author | Connie Bensley |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Bloodaxe Books Ltd |
| Year published | 1994-11-24 |
| Number of pages | 64 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |