Patricia’s Pen is delighted to welcome back poet, reviewer and blogger, Nigel Kent. This visit Nigel celebrates his latest collection Benchwarmers published by the wonderful Hedgehog Poetry Press. Without further ado it’s over to Nigel.

Benchwarmers

Nigel Kent

Thank you, Patricia for allowing me the space to talk about my latest pamphlet, Benchwarmers (Hedgehog Poetry Press, 2023), joint-winner of Hedgehog Poetry Press 2022 Wee Collection Challenge.

I have always been interested in poetry’s capacity to make a difference by enabling readers to make a connection with others. Consequently, many of the poems in my previous collections (Saudade, Unmuted, Psychopathogen) have attempted to share the significant in the lives of ordinary, unexceptional people. Benchwarmers is no different, except this time I have specifically focused on those at the margins of society: life’s outsiders, the disenfranchised, those who ‘lost life’s toss the moment they were…