Hope for a Man Named Jimmie and Grand Illusion Joe

1993

ISBN: 1 875604 07 3

pp 90

Richard Allen’s poetry does what I am always hoping John Ashbery’s will do but never does: gives you enough clear meaning to hang on to to prevent you becoming scared or bored.  If Ashbery is ‘seamless nonsense’ ... then Allen is seamy sense ... a readable mosaic containing beauty, wisdom and humour ... an admirable feat.             

                                                                                    Dennis Nicholson, Mattoid

Some books make me want to weep.  Others make me want to sing.  Hope for a man named Jimmie and Grand Illusion Joe made me want to tap dance on the top of trees ... not for anyone suffering from vertigo or poets who cling to rails of traditional verse.                  

                                                                    Kathy Kituai, Muse

I recommend this book for its intelligence, adventure and sense of play.  It is gratifying to find work that is unafraid to stir the pot.     

            Mark Reid, FAR