Goose Tales & Other Flights

Here is a portal to a world which first appears as a dream, events unfolding somewhat bizarrely. However, the reality is one of a serious nature, fusing moral to fable within, which in turn belies a more hard-headed approach. Goose Tales, the main theme, may be identified in metaphors for action and response, where always there are secrets, and more essentially, secret flights. Bearing witness to each situation Kathleen Kenny weaves a fantasy of behavioural patterns, alongside the harsh and sometimes brutal effects of relationship meltdown. A rich and surprising imagery populates the narrative, with a freshness to savour: ‘like an iced mouth of melon flesh, red and lonely’. Other Flights continues in much the same vein, albeit rather more eclectic, from being shot by a lover to a world of concupiscence. Indeed, the underpinning message is revealed in a couplet which closes the book.
 

Under Wing

They say we can have any kind of pillow we please.

Goose feather will ease your migraine,
your wheeze, your troubled dreams.

Goose feather is the recipe
for a fine pillow.

It will shape itself around you like a soft jaw.
Your human head in its beak.

As you sleep you will discover the nature of bird:
the joys of pecking.

The power of flight will be yours.

Bio: Kathleen Kenny lives on the seafront at mouth of the River Tyne. She has three grown-up daughters, and works as a part-time lecturer at the Centre for Lifelong Learning in Newcastle.