‘…I told you/ I really like your smile./ And
to my surprise/ you gave it to me.’
This astonishing debut by Beth
Calverley takes the umbrella theme of the smile and shares it out – with great
generosity and care - among a multiplicity of subjects, moods and meanings.
Smiles can be brave, shy, sad, or a lighthouse beam of joy. They can be a mess
of countless other things.
This subject seems so appropriate to a
poet whose presence, way of reaching out to every member of her audience, and
most of all her smile, seem to create smiles all around her. Her leaps of
imagination take the breath away. Her use of recurring imagery draws a safety-net
of light around her listeners and readers.
The smiles that inspired these poems
are drawn from real life, with some of the smiles contributed by people whom
Beth has met on her adventures with The Poetry Machine.
These poems are worthy of your great
attention. We dare you not to smile as you read.