A book of intimately personal poems about the author's life, from childhood, as a young woman courting her fiancé, through marriage, child-bearing and child-raising, growing old, and finally into widowhood and living alone.

The poems are mostly gently humorous, telling family stories from Bearman's childhood early in the 20th century, through to her old age in the century's latter years. Some, particularly the later ones, are more reflective and poignant. I was particularly moved by Good-neet Luv, a poem about the author's loss of her husband, remembering their last hours together and their night-time routine, which she must now carry on alone:

Tha didn't mek it, did tha, luv,
Our gowden weddin' day.
Wi tried so hard to keep thi,
But tha quietly slipped away.

It's fifty years ago to-day
Sin' ah become thi bride,
Ah'd give everythin' in t'world, mi luv,
To have thi by mi side.

But there, it seems 'twere noan fer t'be
But ah seems to hear thi say,
"Durn't fret, mi lass, just carry on,
We'll meet agen some day".

While Bearman isn't going to be worrying Tennyson or Keats, I really did enjoy her poems. Possibly because it takes me back to my own childhood and the patterns of speech and stories that my grandparent's generation used and told. Maybe I've been a bit generous with my rating as a consequence, but, of course, the essence of rating is subjectivity.

I'll return to these poems when I need a little chuckle or when feeling nostalgic. ( )