A poet in the family

Today’s post shares the literary skills of my sister in law, Kate Miller. There are many forms and genres of poetry and I will stop there, because I fear I will trip myself up. I will just introduce Kate.

Kate is a published poet and was short listed for a Costa book award 2015:  Poetry Award. The  Costa winners were announced last night and although Kate did not win, being selected was awesome.

Her book of poems is titled ‘The Observances’.

I trust that mentioning Kate’s book in a blog is acceptable within poetic society. I do hope so as I believe keeping quiet can result in keeping secret. So I joyfully sing her praises.

My father had a great love of poetry and he would recite verses of celebrated poems with pride. I can remember enjoying poetry lessons at primary school and at Hallowe’en in Scotland we went round to friends’ homes, had to do ‘a turn’ and I would recite or sing. I was gifted toffee apples, nuts or tablet so perhaps I wasn’t too bad. I certainly enjoyed the project ‘The Highwayman’ by Alfred Noye which I used to teach with Year 4 or 5 primary school pupils. I also enjoy a bit of Burns and can bring in a haggis quoting the necessary lines.

I did ask Kate if she wished to compose a poem to read at our wedding. She declined, saying I think, that much preparation is required and would prefer to choose a poem written by A N Other. That surprised me a little but when I gave it some thought, it made sense. We all take pride in our profession, know what’s required and what standard we hope to achieve.

If you, a friend or relative share a love of poetry and appreciate its many forms, then check out Kate’s  ‘The Observances’ on Amazon. This review can give you an idea of Kate’s work.

Her family are very proud of her.