Susan Ashdown Comments

Susan, your poems seem to me to show a real poetic talent. But reading 'Be Lucky', there's something I can't quite put my finger on. It's to do with presenting a poem to the public without calling - consciously or unconsciously - for sympathy; which such a poem would arouse naturally. The old phrase 'trespassing on someone's sympathy' is a rather harsh expression of this. It's something to do with poetic self-containment. The Chinese are so good at this! I hope you can make sense of this? I wouldn't write if it weren't that your poetry impresses me... Best, Michael