wormwood, earth and honey 

selected poems

by Catherine Edmunds

*** Reviewed by Janet Murch in Iota 81***

*** Voted Book of the Month for March at Writers' Dock***

Catherine Edmunds worked for a couple of decades as a classical musician before switching careers to re-invent herself as an author and artist/illustrator. Her published stories and poems are embedded in the natural world and veer between fantasy and romance, with a dash of humour. Her artwork embraces such diverse themes as delicate portraiture and exploding beetroots. Catherine is married with three children and currently lives in North East England, between the grey North Sea and the windswept High Pennines.

This, her first poetry collection, is accessible but never trivial: warm, earthy, intelligent and – just when you begin to snuggle into the intimacy of it – spiked with fire and venom.

Some readers' comments:

Succeeds on every page to play and tease with the mind and the funny-bone. This offering by Catherine Edmunds is bound to be one of the classics from this stable. - Terry Sorby, author of Beyond the Greyscale

I'm a huge fan of Catherine Edmunds' writing. [This]  is an astounding, comical, moving and quirky collection....I find myself delving into Wormwood, Earth and Honey frequently and savouring many of the pieces time and again. Simply wonderful and suitable for wide range of poetry readers and/or writers.  Wormwood, Earth and Honey 10/10 - Louis P. Burns (Lugh)

 Upstate Renegade Productions. Derry, Northern Ireland

Catherine – you have a convert. I thoroughly enjoyed your poetry. Vivid pictures in brilliant colour sing through the book: ‘lake of jade’, ‘skies boil grey and grim’, white horses dancing’ and
‘tangerine dreams
of sunlit skies
cerulean blue
mediterranean climes’.

This is poetry for a rainy day; to cheer you with colour, make you realise ‘clouds dropped lumps of water’ on everybody at some time, or giggle at the wry humour. A lovely selection of poems and highly recommended reading - Pam Eaves


A favourite piece? Well, I think I’d have to confess and say that ‘grandfather’s beard’ took my fancy. Perhaps not the most deeply meaningful of Catherine’s offerings, but it is dry and wry enough to purse my mouth… with laughter. Or maybe ‘The Ballad of Shane and Mavis.’ Or perhaps even…To sum up: this delightfully complex volume of poetry will please any reader who likes to take their time, ponder a lot and gaze at the heavens, but someone who also has a sense of the ridiculous. If I had one regret it would be that Catherine didn’t see fit to sprinkle a number of her wonderful drawings throughout the book. - John Irvine, Author of Man of Stone 2005 Rat atouille for the rindless 2007  administrator of What If? and manager of Dragon Writers writer's forum