Clare Pollard wrote her first book 'The Heavy-Petting Zoo' while still at school. Its sequel is 'Bedtime' a setting for intimacy and tenderness as well as cruelty and pretence, where reality and fantasy are blurred.
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I know the poetry of my sickness -ailment to zymosis,and recall it, feverish, in blinded dark- Fears of a Hypochondriac Insomniac
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(@BloodaxeBooks, 1 January 2002, paperback, 64 pages, bought from Borders Music and Video, now shutdown)
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I've only read Bedtime once. I became a rabid fan of the poet and devoured all of her books after reading and loving The Heavy-Petting Zoo. It was nice to re-read this collection. I enjoyed this a lot. I love how personal her poems are, a theme that runs through all of her poetry. Pollard is one of my favourite poets. I remember how in awe I was of her work when I read The Heavy-Petting Zoo because she's close to my age. I like the fact the poems in Bedtime are different and cover a wide range of themes and subjects so none are alike. I especially liked The Crimes of Love, Thinking of England, The Smear Test, Puppetry, Adventures with Lola and Bed Scenes.
