Lorna Dowell was born and brought up in South London. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in a wide variety of literary journals.
Her work has an arresting range of mood and tone, from quiet (almost submissive) acceptance to unexpected and unapologetic rage. Some of her settings are safely domestic, but they aren’t safe, and they aren’t domestic. Another world of experience lurks just below the surface.
SAMPLE POEM
Life lines
.....somewhere
between the circle
line and road works avoiding
the school run between clocking on
and off weekends spent doing
the mowing washing and tiling
the toilet testing out match pots
in various shades of white between
little spats over lunch and separating
bottles from paper and plastic driving
to Tesco deciding between
cod and plaice Flash and Fairy phoning
the dentist your mother the plumber
(the nth time) somewhere between
getting the cat done sewing back
buttons stuffing the chicken
between the first post and the late-
night shopping on-line for back aids
or insulation between letters
and e-mail logging on and off
between crashes and holding on
help-lines
.....somewhere
Lorna Dowell