Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope: Selected Poems are sketches of people and places that have left a deep impression with author Josephine Chadwick. Her poetry collection was written over the last twenty-five years, and most of the 24 poems each fit on less than a page.

"I worked in a government employment exchange from leaving school to getting married, and have always lived in the North of England. I moved from Manchester to Sheffield, when I married a steelworker.

"We brought up six children and I have always been happy as a homemaker and mother. I live very happily in a garden suburb on the border of a national park. I like music and books and the theatre.

"My late husband and I used to go rambling, but I can't walk far now. This is my first book and my last!"

Breaking Free

Came an exotic bird to my quiet bower

Asked: Is there anywhere you'd rather be?

You could see birds of paradise, rare flowers

Or explore coral reefs beneath the sea.

I'll fly you anywhere ... say Mandalay

Or sail around the timeless isles of Greece

Revel in the excitement of Bombay

Or in Tibet find spiritual peace.

So! All the world to choose from - how surreal!

Kaleidoscopic, spins your head round. I tried imagining

how it would feel ...

Someone like me who needs family around.



Fear of the unknown led me to refuse

And restless now I sit bemused.