The Ash of Time

"These poems reflect the period of my lifetime from the 1950's until the present day 2021. They make use of natural landscapes, the physical body and the psyche to map changes in society, technology and globalisation, and how humanity is becoming more isolated and lost within our Earthly Paradise and the wonders of the Cosmos. They also subtly comment on the advancement of the empowerment of women, on the rising displacement of people worldwide, and climate change, also about our present plague and global lockdown.

Generally these poems are about the shortness of life and the losses we all suffer and how as a global tribe we search for love and safety, travellers within a vast universe of experience. I have also tried to emphasise the joy of being in the moment and listening for a deeper connection to an intuitive world."

- Penny Sharman



"In Penny Sharman's latest book, The Ash of Time, we are given verses of sweetness and pain, with flowers whispering of their grief, owls calling out for their lovers, blue monsters, the golden cord attached to our hearts, a symphony of dying leaves, an aria of love notes. These poems trace the arc of a life while casting a keen eye on the oppression and the empowerment of women. Part fable, part narrative, part metaphor- The Ash of Time brings us 'a peach memory/ soft the hashish days/ our common language/ of joy.'"

-Brian Turner Poet (Here Bullet)



"Penny Sharman channels kitchen sink realism to explore her life, from a child in the 50s and up until 2021. The Ash of Time finds the remarkable in the unremarkable and in typical life experiences. What I find striking about this work, and the rest of Sharman's output, is the way that she frames everyday objects in her verse so that they don't stand apart from us and we don't encounter them in a solipsistic manner. They carry enormous shared associative, almost Pavlovian, resonance, breaking down the solipsism of private perception. This is truly social evocation. She is able to summon colour, smells, tastes, etc. with the greatest economy of language. Penny is a truly amazing poet; you should buy this."

-Alec Newman www.knivesforks&spoonspress.co.uk