Latest Book Release

SALLY WARRELL COLLECTED POEMS

A collection of one hundred poems that draw from Sally’s wealth of life experiences from 1983 to 2022.

More About Sally Warrell

Sally Warrell is a Suffolk poet whose work explores memory, relationships, loss and life through rich imagery, nature and humour. She is the author of Cherry Pie and Other Poems and Collected Poems 1983–2022, and winner of the Suffolk Poetry Society Crabbe Memorial Poetry Competition 2026.

Poems

MUSINGS BY SALLY WARRELL

Blackbird Divo

Feet planted on the apex of the shed roof,

the blackbird fills the green cathedral

with the sound of its song, floating

upward to the overarching trees

where it is answered by another call

further off. The blackbird is oblivious

to all else, but the song and its answering

song, the tak, tak, tak of its alarm call

filling the late afternoon, calling me down

the garden to draw back the branches

of the cherry tree and find it there,

shaking out its feathers like shards

of jet, resplendent and territorial,

the aria flowing from its bent yellow beak.

Copyright Sally Warrell 24 October 2015

The Man with Liquid Eyes

I sat down facing his table and as I put down my coffee and cake.
I wondered if our eyes would meet or shy away from each other.

Would we smile a greeting and quickly return to our own worlds? I soon realised that his gaze was directed inwards towards some great sadness or loss. His hands
were clasped under the table and still he stared inward. After a while he would take a sup of the tea from his mug
and then return to his original pose hands held in supplication.

Sometime later he poured some tea from the pot soundlessly,
making no impression on anyone else in the café and again, the hands were grasped and he returned to looking inwards,
never seeing me in front of him or registering my existence.

After some time of this the tea was finished.

He stood quietly and tidied away his tray.

Sally Warrell June 2025

Plongeuse

(Plongeuse is a French word used to describe a person washing up in a restaurant, but it can also mean an underwater diver.)

It’s the early eighties

and I’m washing up

in a hotel in France.

There’s a bus strike on

and I’ve borrowed a bicycle

to get to work.

It’s only a temporary job

to cover for sick leave,

but I can dream.

I pull on the yellow

rubber gloves, turn on the tap

and squeeze in the detergent.

I grab a stack of plates

and get started, my hands

sinking into the suds,

getting a rhythm going,

leaning forward a bit too much,

my feet leave the floor.

I’m plunging head over heels

into the bowl and down and out

the other side into the ocean.

The rubber gloves have gone

and my body is now encased

in a sleek black wetsuit.

There is an aqualung

on my back, a light on my head.

I see all the wonders of marine life

go by: a walrus, dolphins, turtles,

tuna, a manatee and rays

as I go deeper and deeper.

Great white sharks circle me,

sea horses hang suspended

below me with bony perfection.

All sense of time has gone.

So too has the hotel,

the restaurant, the customers

waiting for clean plates,

the kind friend waiting for her

bicycle, and I am here,

an astronaut whirling

in space, going deeper,

finally touching down

and walking on the ocean

floor. Now I have something

to write home about.

Copyright Sally Warrell 7 January 2022

Books

MUSINGS BY SALLY WARRELL

Sally Warrell’s collected poems from 1983 to 2022. A collection of one hundred poems that draw from Sally’s wealth of life experiences, that cover and explore a range of topics, such as memory, relationships, loss and life at large among many others. Sally’s poems utilise influences from the natural world and Greek mythology to entice the reader. Her writing style is also rich with colour and other powerful imagery to convey her thoughts and feelings.

Buy on Amazon

A collection of 32 poems written in the past twenty eight years, but mostly over the last seven years. This is a story told in poetry. There is sadness and there is humour. Subjects range from love and marriage to grief and loss, grandparents meeting, insomnia, childhood and the past.

Buy on Amazon

Books

MUSINGS BY SALLY WARRELL

Sally Warrell’s collected poems from 1983 to 2022. A collection of one hundred poems that draw from Sally’s wealth of life experiences, that cover and explore a range of topics, such as memory, relationships, loss and life at large among many others. Sally’s poems utilise influences from the natural world and Greek mythology to entice the reader. Her writing style is also rich with colour and other powerful imagery to convey her thoughts and feelings.

Buy on Amazon

A collection of 32 poems written in the past twenty eight years, but mostly over the last seven years. This is a story told in poetry. There is sadness and there is humour. Subjects range from love and marriage to grief and loss, grandparents meeting, insomnia, childhood and the past.

Buy on Amazon

What Others Say

TESTIMONIALS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sally’s careful use of language and mastery of short, effective poems makes it a joy to read

I was introduced to Sally Warrell’s poems at a live Poetry and Prose evening earlier this year, and I was excited to read more of her work. The collection covers forty years of writing, and ranges from poignant treatments of depression, mental health, and relationships, to delightfully insightful observations of the everyday, and poems with a lovely sense of humour.

Standout poems for me include ‘Ativan Sane’, a short, stinging reflection on the use of anti-anxiety medication; ‘The Life Laundry’, which resonated strongly with me as I search for my new, post-lockdown identity; ‘When My Father Died’, which beautifully communicates a deep sense of loss and grief in a few breathtaking lines; and ‘Tragedy’ and ‘The Grey Lady of Bury St Edmunds’, in which the poet captures the sense of despair and loss of identity, expressed through the idea of disappearing from your own life.

I loved the everyday observations of ‘Gloves’, ‘Sea Stones’ and ‘Sacrifice’, as well as the more personal ‘Copenhagen’, ‘Just Married, 1987’, ‘The Film of Arriving Home’, ‘Felixstowe Reprised’ and ‘Coffee and Radio’. The conjuring of nature in ‘Blackbird Divo’ and ‘The Owl’ is beautiful and haunting. My favourite poem, and the one I enjoyed most when Sally read it on stage, is ‘Plongeuse’, which combines a tangible memory with gentle humour and a gorgeous creative vision.

There’s a lot to take away from this collection, and Sally’s careful use of language and mastery of short, effective poems makes it a joy to read.

Rachel Churcher

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 August 2023

Truly Introspective

As a voracious reader, few authors surprise me, yet Sally’s words catapulted me back to my childhood, reading an old musty book of poems that belonged to my grandfather. Her commentary on everyday life leaves you wanting more, and also makes you feel seen, less alone, in a world of social media zombies.

DMDésiré Mirelux

A Unique View On The World

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MMMary Maxey

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About Sally Warrell

Sally Warrell was born in Bury St Edmunds where she now lives with her husband. She holds a BA Joint Honours in English and Philosophy from Aberystwyth 1980 as well as a BSc in Computing from the Open University 2003. She self published Cherry Pie and Other Poems in 2014. It is also available as a kindle. Her Collected Poems 1983 – 2022 was published by Kingston University Press.

Her poetry has been published by Ink Sweat and Tears, Twelve Rivers, poetrywivenhoe, AtEase and Artbranches. Her work has been described as ‘soulful’ and revealing ‘a lovely sense of humour.’ She was awarded first prize in the Suffolk Poetry Society Crabbe Memorial Poetry Competition 2026.