Description
Bracing is a full collection of poems, mostly about contemporary life, experienced richly, intensely, unsentimentally and with humour. The writing is humane and accessible, wearing its intelligence lightly.
There is something for everyone in Bracing, even for those who were put off poetry at school. This is a mature, well-rounded piece of work. The subject matter ranges across modern life and beyond – childhood, parenthood, love, lust, loss, shopping, animals (and our connection to them), climate change, the complexities of the human heart and of relationships, spirituality, food, suffragettes, the status of women, homesickness, grief, illness, ageing, dementia, fear, the joy in small things. All the poems are underpinned by a keen eye, a sharp wit and a total absence of self-pity. Simone is a safe pair of hands, writing in an unshowy style, a poet who manages to be heartfelt, humorous and accomplished.
Simone Mansell Broome has written nine books, (including one short e-pamphlet of performance-style poems). She majors in modern, unpretentious, accessible poetry, often threaded with a quietly understated wit, but has also written children’s fiction and prose for the grown-ups. She’s widely published in magazines, ezines and anthologies, and has performed her work in pubs, galleries, theatres, at festivals, on the radio and on internet TV. Simone has written commissioned poems for ITV and for exhibitions and theatre pieces. She’s currently working on another collection, a second memoir and some short stories.
‘I highly recommend this poet’s sense, sensibility, and hearty companionship.’
Pamela Petro, author of The Long Field and Travels in an Old Tongue.
‘Simone writes with great poignancy and humour, sharing her view of moments both observed and imagined. The diverse everyday and unusual are keenly observed. Many poems are sensuous, leaving lingering secret smiles on lips. Each is a gem to savour and revisit. A collection of wonders, no doubt you’ll enjoy. Several times I found myself thinking, ‘Oh, I wish I’d written that!’ Brilliant.’
Jackie Lyndon, Pinewood Press
Pamela Petro –
Simone Mansell Broome’s new poetry collection, Bracing, is just what its title promises. These wide-ranging poems emerge from everyday life—a trip to the hairdresser’s or St David’s, languishing on hold on the phone—and are by turns playful and profound, able in the flick of a line to tether glimpses of resonant meaning to quotidian chores, annoyances, joys…Broome’s accessible, down-to-earth poetry faces life as if out for a walk on a windy day, in sensible dress and footwear, shorn of sentimentality. For her, hiraeth is a gust of privilege to which she is entitled but not her father, who was raised in a Wales of duty and hunger, for whom “there was no longing.” I highly recommend this poet’s sense, sensibility, and hearty companionship.’
Merryn Williams –
‘These are quirky poems written from unusual angles, some comic, some sinister. Several were written during Covid, when we all felt desperate but when the poet’s friend went out and became a cheerful land girl. We all die in the end, she says, but life is here to be celebrated. Bracing indeed!’
Jackie Lyndon –
‘LOVED your collection! So much to think about. You have such an interesting take on your world! Such varied topics from way back in time to now. Well, what a joy your collection has been to read. I had to stop many times to dwell on the conjured images and emotions.
Simone writes with great poignancy and humour, sharing her view of moments both observed and imagined. The diverse everyday and unusual are keenly observed. Many poems are sensuous, leaving lingering secret smiles on lips. Each is a gem to savour and revisit. A collection of wonders, no doubt you’ll enjoy.
Several times I found myself thinking, ‘Oh, I wish I’d written that!’ Brilliant.’
Mike Jenkins –
‘Broome’s poetry is characterised by candour, wit & close observation. She has an original turn of phrase which is very arresting.’
Ann Fletcher-Williams –
‘Memories, fragments, forgotten moments, emotions and remembrances. From the first signs of spring to the ‘so many chapels’ of her Wales and her own personal Hiraeth, Simone shows us humour and sadness in the everyday and the power of homesickness. Bracing is packed with hidden gems to make you laugh, cry and ponder on the past, present and future of our ever changing world.I love the collection – I’m particularly fond of Hole Punch! Fabulous.’
Ric Hool –
‘Your scope of subject matter is so enjoyable as is the style in which you approach poems.’
‘Here are poems of experience, anticipation and observation that share an engagement with life – for all its complexities; for all its failures, successes, tragedies and humour. Poems that seek and find reward in the commonness of everyday events. Poems that capture a reader’s mind with their conversational style.’