Old People Sex: and Other Highly Offensive Poems

This book contains a broad selection of Ashley Lister's poems all of which have been described by various critics as either darkly amusing, absolutely hilarious or obscenely offensive.

Many of these poems touch on the subject of sex and this is not surprising. The act of sex, whilst being a lot of fun, is also something that is quite amusing in our contemporary society. Intimacy is something which most adults desire, yet the subject remains forbidden and taboo, as though our passions are base, unsavoury or simply inappropriate. The Filipino writer, F. Sionil José said, "Poetry is emotion, passion, love, grief-everything that is human. It is not for zombies by zombies." In that spirit, it would be a poor collection of poetry that did not reflect on that most passionate aspect of life that is physical adult intimacy.

Several of these poems have a political content. The American poet, Sonia Sanchez, said, "All poets, all writers, are political. They either maintain the status quo, or they say 'something's wrong, let's change it for the better'." It's debatable wheter or not any of these political poems suggest any change for the better. They are simply presented to entertain and amuse audiences with left-wing leanings.

In amongst these poems are a range of pieces that touch on an eclectic variety of subjects such as Cilla Black, growing old, apostrophes and Romeo and Juliet. The author has provided brief introductions to some pieces whilst others have been presented as self-explanatory artefacts. It's also important to accept this collection's title that some of these poems are highly offensive.

Ashley Lister expresses some outrageous opinions and questionable attitudes, all of which is done to entertain because, as the poet Anne Sexton once advised when discussing the art of being a poet, "Whatever you do, don't be boring." So, if you are easily offended, this is not the book for you. However, if you're willing to take the risk, please enjoy the contents of this collection.