Another review of ‘Safe Ground’, this time in Ultramarine Literary Review, a Chile-based literary review founded last November. Many thanks to reviewer Setareh Ebrahimi, a wonderful poet whom I’ve admired since 2018 when her first collection ‘In My Arms’ was published by the marvellous Bad Betty Press. Bad Betty’s webpage describes Ebrahimi as ‘an assured voice, both soft and hard, ruthless and seductive’, skills she uses as much in her reviews as her poetry. It’s always interesting to see what a reviewer is drawn to in a collection and Ebhrahimi sees it all. She writes, for example:

‘The phrase ‘silent childhoods swing lifeless’ crystalises the concerns of this book. Rosie describes a tense, painful childhood. It is so visceral you can feel how freezing the described environment is. The character in these poems is not able to speak, but in writing a book about such moments, Rosie is. This is seen in the poem ‘In Good Hands’, where Rosie writes, ‘Little seven, you will be safe -/I will/never let go of your wee hand’.

Ebrahimi’s final paragraph (always the clincher in a review) concludes: ‘I liked this collection because I found it personally relatable. It seemed to open up some wounds to soothe them. Oddly enough [Ebrahimi’s] favourite poems in this collection were ‘C Sharp’, ‘My Boyish Love’ and ‘Off the Map’. These are poems that reimagine masculinity and present it as flawed, beautiful, brutal, playful. I think there are many people that will resonate with this collection, especially women and survivors of difficult childhoods.’

You can buy ‘Safe Ground’ at the usual websites: Waterstones, Amazon and the publisher Safe Ground, Rosie Johnston – Mica Press

Little Seven, your sentry look – that

level

stare’s already ancient.

(From In Good Hands, ‘Safe Ground’, Mica Press 2025)