Terry Quinn's New Poetry Collection

Our different members have had poems published in various magazines recently (details can be seen in the downloadable newsletter). Terry is one of them and has followed this with a publication of his own: "Away".

Barbara Dordi of Equinox describes this colletion:

"Terry Quinn’s poetry is accessible, not mystified; he has the knack of using everyday language which marries well with the often ‘ordinary’ subject matter. But his poems invariably have a subtext which belies the surface subject matter – an unexpectedness – both pleasing and intriguing, which has become the hallmark of his poetry".

And in his foreword to the book Terry writes :

"Much to my surprise I’ve just discovered that very few poetry books contain a Foreword. So it’s a bit embarrassing in this first collection to have one. But read the first poem.

There’s three points I want to make:

1. Due to a lifelong addiction to the sports’ pages I tend to read poetry books from back to front. And that’s still possible in this case, however, the poems are arranged as a journey from Norway down the East coast of the UK, looping through Europe, up the West coast, Scotland and back.

2. Hence the title ‘Away’, though it’s not the only reason. There are no prizes for guessing that ‘Home’ and ‘Draw’ are in the pipeline. It’s time to get something out of the Pools.

3. Not so long ago I received a poem back with the comment that the poem was well liked but that the language was ‘too plain’. As I’d spent weeks, if not months, trying to achieve that very effect I didn’t know whether to be flattered or annoyed. But it does highlight what I detest most about a strand of British poetry that seems to think that obscurity equals poetry. That doesn’t mean a poem shouldn’t have layers. But make them readable, as poetry, through all those layers.
"



If you are interested in buying this collection then please either email us or ask at the next meeting. And for a sample of his poetry you can find one at this link