Cover illustration based on The Discus Thrower in the British Museum
Soft Landings, Jenny Swann's first full collection, is about idealism and imperfection, courage and loss of nerve. She positions herself in the crossfire between the Establishment and its hooting critics, between seriousness and irrepressible laughter. Some of the poems join in and take sides, ducking and weaving through a world that is unpredictable and unreliable, with kindred spirits turning up in improbable places. Old women, schoolboys and librarians become the focus for gentle teasing and celebration, prophets of doom and bored monks make their presence felt. Elsewhere the collection is preoccupied with the act of watching, the quiet contemplation of beauty, whether the subject is the ebb and flow of human experience, the changing seasons of the natural world, or the perfect stillness of art.
Praise for FLESH TONES:
Jenny Swann's booklet, Flesh Tones, a work absolutely rich in humour and colour, left me reeling in a way I had not experienced since discovering Stevie Smith.
Stephen Wade, The North
... delightfully subversive
Roddy Lumsden, Poetry London
It is immediately possible to recognise the art historian's touch in her poetry, her use of colour and texture assist in the creation of a three-dimensional world.
Dawn Bellamy, Thumbscrew
... well worth the reading
Glyn Pursglove, Acumen
... a quietly impish, mischievous poet with a broad canvas and rich impastoed palette at her disposal ... each poetic idea is granted whatever space it needs to find shape
Ra Page, City Life
Soft Landings costs £7.00 and was published in September 2002.
ISBN: 978-1-873226-55-1
Jenny Swann studied English literature and art history, and works as a freelance writer and art historian. Her pamphlet, Flesh Tones, was joint winner of the Redbeck Poetry Competition in 1999, and North West Arts awarded her a Writer's Bursary in 2001. She won third prize in the prestigious Cardiff International Poetry Competition (22 May 2003), for her poem What to look for in winter. A short collection, Stay, was published in May 2003 by Shoestring Press.
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