Reviews

Selected Poems by Colette Bryce

charlottekook's review against another edition

3.0

It took me a while to read this (even though I normally take my time with poetry collections), not entirely sure why. It’s not the style of poetry I usually read but I have some favourites: Re-entering the Egg, A little girl I knew when she was my mother, A Simple Modern Hand

wormytoby's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

5.0

Gorgeous

bgg616's review against another edition

4.0

Bryce was born in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1970. She left Northern Ireland at the age of 18 to study in England. She has lived in Scotland and England since that time. Currently, she is editor of Poetry Review Ireland, the preeminent poetry journal in Ireland. There are a number of reasons she may have left Northern Ireland and stayed away. Foremost, life in Derry during the Troubles, was dangerous, and confining in many ways. She was from a working class, Catholic family, and a girl in a large Catholic family often had a lot of responsibilities. I know this as the older of six, I went to college 500 miles away to escape the burden of being the eldest daughter. Bryce may have stayed in England, because as a lesbian, Northern Ireland is a very unfriendly place.

A number of her poems deal with life in Derry. She also has a number of poems about domestic and everyday life. She is a keen observer and expert at writing short poems.
Her poem "Car Wash" is about visiting a car wash in Belfast with her partner.
https://youtu.be/27MU682RSBg
The following poem "The Brits" describes life in Derry.
https://youtu.be/5Q48e9SoRvg

Highly recommended for those who want to expand their reading of Northern Irish poets, women poets, and poetry overall.

chaoticbibliophile's review

emotional funny inspiring reflective

Amazing. If I'm still loving it as much by the end of the year, I will come back and rate it 5 stars. This is my first book by Colette Bryce but it definitely will not be the last.