The Collected Poems

Val Kirkham is a Yorkshire poet now living in Lancashire. This is a collected edition of her life work so far. It is wide-ranging and varied. She knows a great deal about the pain and pleasure of love, and writes about it with searing honesty. She trained as a chef and has worked in a zoo, a banqueting outfit, a mediaeval castle, and an American college. In 1982 she decided to hang up her apron and devote herself to writing, saying she would go back to work when she got bored. She has not got bored yet. She was a performance poet in the 80s, in the North West. Adrian Henri once gasped at one of her poems, and the editor of Lancashire Life called her "the predatory sexual voice cruising in the fast lane of poetry". She sprang to national fame after reading poetry in a jacuzzi. She has been on radio and tv. You will be thrilled, chilled, brought to laughter and tears by this woman's perception and insight. If you are a prude or object to strong language, better pass this one by.