"This collection is the work of a committed writer who is building on the poetic tradition to open challenging insights into what it is to be human. The resultant variety of subject matter is handled with imagination, verbal precision and originality of imagery in a range of poetic forms from tightly-structured sonnets to lengthy free-verse celebrations which, at times, approach the level of mantra. Several poems probe issues of religious and spiritual faith, both personal and public, in a searching and essentially positive manner. Others offer tender and vivid portrayals of family members and explore the boundaries between generations and gender in a fusion of humour, wit and delicate suggestibility. This rich collection is powerful and moving."
- Roger Elkin, author of Bird in Hand & Marking Time
"John Lindley provides another virtuoso performance of honesty, insight and humour. Love and Crossbones celebrates a joy and fascination of human experience. He tells it as it is whilst admitting to a darker side with phantom roll calls, a grave garden, dragons that 'wish and hiss', and an aunt 'Havishamed ...in the gloomiest room'. 'It's all in the craft, the shape and the weight, ' he explains. There is much to celebrate as the poet draws on Coleridge, Rossetti, Keats, Rimbaud, Mark Twain and the Bible on this intriguing journey. No wonder 'we sigh/ like a released handbrake.'
- John Williams, author of The Reading Lesson in the Lifers' Wing & On Lipstick Beach
John Lindley is a freelance poet, songwriter and creative writing tutor. An experienced performer, he has read at Ledbury Poetry Festival and at the Buxton and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals. He runs workshops for festivals and in prisons, schools, universities, day care centres and for those with learning difficulties. Widely published and a prizewinner in a number of international competitions, his poetry has also been broadcast on radio. His last collection of poems, Dylan Thomas: Embers & Sparks, was published in 2014. A CD of his songs, Wasteland, was released in 2018.
http: //johnflindley.wordpress.com/
Cover Art - "The Death of Man" by Mark Sheeky
www.marksheeky.com
