Nottingham's very own Michelle Mother Hubbard has been working on a collection of poetry called D.A.D Diagnosis ALzheimer's Dementia for several years and we are thrilled to be able to welcome Michelle into the shed... she is a key part of the poetry scene in Nottingham and launched Blackdrop spoken word night back in 2003 - arguably the longest running spoken word night in the city.

​​​

​​

"The DAD collection of poems by Michelle Hubbard, is a truly profound, poignant, at times visceral, painful essay: on a daughter’s loss, ambiguous grief observing a beloved parent’s dementia and subsequent death. This is encapsulated in the line from the poem Hurting This Much, ‘I never grieved so selfishly for a death without a body’. These poems offer beautiful elegy, evoking tender memories, as well as frustration, rage at both a cruel illness, and current NHS/ Social Care Home policies and provision.

 

Michelle’s poems are laced with sharp, stunning images, notably at times using children’s rhyme lyrical frameworks. Creating wry portraits of precious childhood memories, with dark humour. How to Make a Dad list poem details, invokes a very real person. Other poems map confusion, disordered thinking and behaviours of Alzheimers Disease. With its debilitating effect all very carefully outlined. This and of itself, enriches our understanding immeasurably, of the important life issues, faced by many families today. As such I wish to commend this poetry collection and poet for an open, honest and courageous work."

 

Carol Leeming MBE FRSA

Poet & Inter-Disciplinary Artist  

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​