Preface

Karen McAndrew had little interest in my writing. I would tell her if I was taking a poetry class, doing a reading, but I never showed her my work, or talked about books with her. Our friendship was based on simple pleasures - cups and cups of tea, nattering about our families, ‘mooching’ around the charity shops of Rochester and pub lunches.

I haven’t written a poem for Karen, but this collection opens with ‘Blithe spirits’, which Karen would have liked. Karen’s blithe spirit will be wearing jeans, a brightly-coloured top with a bit of a sparkle on it and colourful jewellery, all found in charity shops. She may not bother with footwear now; she was a size 9 and had trouble finding fashionable shoes. Perhaps there is a plentiful supply of size 9s in the afterlife.

The collection closes with a prose piece, ‘Where the High Street meets Star Hill’, about our last outing together. May Karen be sitting in a cafe with an endless supply of tea, or in a pub, in good company, drinking Pernod and lemonade on ice from a tall glass.

Maria C. McCarthy