Forget the corny comedian: Pam Ayres is a proper poet, whose wistful, funny, and perceptive verse captures both the joy and unfairness of life. - Sunday Times

“The poet is a lifer. Anyone who gets into the game will soon start wishing that there was a version of it with lower stakes, but there isn't.”

All her poems have written underneath - 'I have seen it.' - Randall Jarrell

The poet's reading, like his words, is energetic and as alive as quicksilver - The Observer

How you became a poet's a mystery! / Where did you get your talent from? / I say: I had two uncles, Joe and Harry - / one was a stammerer, the other dumb.- 'Heredity', Tony Harrison

There stands the base and root of the living rock,/Thirty thousand feet of solid Cumberland. - To the River Duddon, Norman Nicholson

I have tried to be faithful to delight... - Ruth Pitter

It is not so difficult to kindle the poetic fire in the first place as to keep it going, hot and bright, through a whole lifetime. - Thom Gunn

All poetry has to do is to make a strong communication. All the poet has to do is listen. The poet is not an important fellow. There will always be another poet. - Stevie Smith

After 39 years, this is all I've done. - Dylan Thomas' final words

In a dark time the eye begins to see - 'In a Dark Time', Theodore Roethke

Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard. - Anne Sexton