Valerie Gillies writes like the wind and jinks like a hare in the fields of language - The Scotsman

"This is sanity speaking, with a mask of tragedy pulled up from its face. This is a stunning poet arguing with the failing authority of her culture, the whole Silk Road curled up and hissing by her feet." Valzhyna Mort

Strands of autobiography, a deeply sensuous ecology of place, historical narratives; the inner world of imagination and the often difficult realities of the postcolonial nation are interwoven in McWatt's bold but carefully worked out architecture. Peepal Tree

I'm drawn to what you might think of as traditional lyric poetry; it's an enduring, effective, powerful means of expression.

The simple lack / Of her is more to me / Than others' presence. Edward Thomas, 'The Unknown'

In the face of loss - human, natural, temporal - McQueen finds salvation in language. Often her work is about artistic endeavour itself: the desire to freeze time, the realisation that this is impossible - Sarah Quigley

[Her] poems come to us with the intimacy of whispered secrets - Paul Batchelor

Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. Percy Bysshe Shelley, 'Ode to a Skylark'

Trenches of night between us ... - 'War History', Sam Hunt

Air falls under the heavy yoke of bells - 'Sunday Morning', Denis Glover

Poetry's about what can't be said. WS Merwin

Not only rich music, an easy lyricism, but also grit, and earthy honesty, a willingness to be vulnerable and clean. - Gwendolyn Brooks