Jan.6~ BOOK FEATURE: Peter J Donnelly

Happy New Year, poetry lovers! We're kicking off the new year with a short series of book reviews. First up, UK-based poet Peter J Donnelly's Bloom and Grow (Alien Buddha Press). Check out my review below, and purchase your copy by clicking on the cover image. 

In Peter Donnelly’s book Bloom and Grow, there is love and disappointment and regret which resonates with all who know loss. But lines like “...it’s more like your eyes are averted” (from “Where It Hangs Now”) hint at the growth the book’s title alludes to, as we come to accept the way our impressions of others -- while they lived -- shape who they continue to be to us, after they are gone. Donnelly’s Bloom and Grow also offers resolve and contentment through lines like, “a shame to miss out on Aysgarth Falls, but you can't have everything” (from “Half An Hour in Hawes”). Overall, this is a collection full of raw emotion and evocative imagery. A treasure.  

-SAMANTHA TERRELL, EIC
SHINE international poetry series

Peter J Donnelly lives in York where he works as a hospital secretary. He has a degree in English Literature and a MA in Creative Writing from the University of Wales Lampeter. He has been published in various magazines and anthologies including Dreich, Southlight, One Hand Clapping, High Window, Black Nore Review, Ink Sweat and Tears and Obsessed with Pipework. He was a joint runner up in the Buzzwords open poetry competition in 2020 and won second prize in the Ripon Poetry Festival competition in 2021. 

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