REVIEWS AND COMMENTS

Jim Bennett's books and CD's are available for purchase. For details please write to BOOKS

What is being said about "LARKHILL"

Bill Westron, Western Magazine
"A stunning collection"

Martyn Halsall, Poetry Editor, Third Way. writes

"Jim Bennett is a generous poet and this collection is a small library of open-
hearted experiences. Larkhill summarises the work of a writer who observes
closely, and translates what he sees and feels into responses that engage,
amuse and extend our perceptions. Pithy, wry, witty and wise, this is poetry
that embraces our world in all its paradoxical potential. Revelations are
seasoned with questions; a nod at the familiar with a recognition of pain
behind a brave smile. This magnetic poetry often contests the expected, by
working from a broad canvas to a telling detail, like a three legged newt, a
squashed fly, or a staple’s rust-print on old papers. There is the constant
delight of acute observation: ‘clambering clouds’, or birds that are ‘just a flash
of pepper’ in sunlight. Such detail re-opens expansive topics, summoning our
re-appraisal. Children, sieving gravel for bullets, summarise the aftermath of
war. An older couple, with their comfortable fantasies about literature and fine
art, offer a deep reading about love and imagination. So, smile at the clown in
the workplace, mourn with the bereaved mother, pause by the charred books
and investigate the detective’s post-script. Jim Bennett writes of ‘the new
world’, and also presents one, in all its intriguing promise."

Thomas Graham-Land editor Alsatia Review writes;

"I was pleased to see a new book of poetry from Jim Bennett, it is always an
event and as usual full of unexpected twists and turns. There is an emotional
edge to his work which never crosses over into the melodramatic but holds its
line and takes the reader to unexpected highs and lows. Jim is an exceptional
writer, one of the few of his generation to carry the torch of poetry through
the wild lands of free verse and the abandonment of form and punctuation to
show what can be achieved with words and lineation. This is a collection
which shows all his strengths. Perhaps the greatest of which is his ability to
see the unique and wonderful in the mundane and ordinary. I recommend this
collection without reservation."


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Recent interviews  with Jim Bennett

http://www.sentinelpoetry.org.uk/slq2.1/jim_bennett.htm
http://www.poetrykit.org/iv00/bennett.htm
http://www.poetrykit.org/pkmag/pkmag7/031.htm
 

What was said about "Down in Liverpool"

Hear Jim Bennett read some of his best work on this fine studio album from Long Neck Media. With a selection of songs and poetry covering thirty years of an amazing creative output. This is the definitive Jim Bennett collection.

"...an authentic voice bringing the sound of beat to Liverpool" -Trax

"Jim Bennett is very much of that generation of Liverpool poets who adopted the directness and spontaneity of American beat writing and adapted it into a peculiarly English - and Liverpudlian - mode of expression."
- David Bateman, Transparent Words

"One of Jim’s great strengths is his range. He reads a poem which naughty boys all over the world would repeat with glee ... and follows it with poems bearing his soul, peeling off layer after layer of feeling." - Bill Melrose, Merseyside Arts.

"Jim is an experience, a really good life affirming experience." - John Ball, Nightshade

"The best performance poet in Liverpool" he certainly is, in fact he is one of the best in the country, "

"a genius who creates unforgettable experience for the audience but does it in a quiet and unassuming way."

"the very best of the Liverpool Poets"

"he has to be experienced."

""Liverpool Is"... is unashamedly an anthem for a great city written by someone who clearly loves Liverpool and who has the talent to express that love in a poem. "

 "..beautiful poems read perfectly by a great poet,

who could ask for more."

Merseyside Arts Monthly

"A not to be missed event. Jim's poetry and songs are witty, funny and thought provoking." Ham

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'Sometimes, not all times, it's hard to believe that any more musician poets can capture such a captivating, sweet and trenchant sound, without  vocal aerobics or overtly political fetishes.  One of the most encouraging and collectable releases of 2011 - will be DOCKLAND, produced by Skyline ; vocals and instrumentation by the celebrated poet,  Jim Bennett, is a gorgeous, languid setting of melodious rivulets. Jim's lyrical messages will appeal to everyone.   Also, the poet's handling of occasional cliché, or the echo of Dylanesque  colour, show that he is a talented exponent of the folk oeuvre.'
(John Garland)