From objects imbued with meaning and memory to the places that nurture and anchor us, Denise Bennett's poetry is grounded in a sense of the sacredness of the everyday. There is keen attention to justice and relationships of integrity shine a bright light into dark places. The poetry here is not only accomplished but deeply felt. It comes from a place of listening and seeing with the heart and is delivered in imagery that is lucid, precise and moving.
"When Denise Bennett reaches for the best phrase, she finds it. She moves skilfully from poems of comfort and security in recent dark times to a powerful social awareness of lives movingly recovered from the past. Love and disarming honesty is at the heart of all she writes. This accomplished collection is one thing I will always keep."
- Robyn Bolam
"This collection of new poems is the fruit of a life long devotion to poetry. Informed by an emotional connection with the city of her birth, Denise Bennett brings Portsmouth's rich history to life ... These are truthful poems that address the wonder, as well as the 'struggle of everyday living', head on. Above all
Things I Have Kept
is a testimony to the poet's faith in the transformative power of poetry, reminding us that some things are too precious to be thrown away."
- Maggie Sawkins