Remembering Sarah
"I want their fierce hope to shake the world"
Early in January 2025, I heard the news that Sarah Connor, one of our Black Bough authors, had passed away on 27th December after a long illness.
I was in touch with Sarah until just before Christmas. She became a dear friend when I edited her book The Poet Spells Her Name, which was published in 2023. This critically-acclaimed collection was reviewed by Poetry Wales (one of Sarah's writing highlights) and is heading off to the National Poetry Archive in London. Over the past 18 months, the book sold steadily with great reviews and testimonies across the internet, not to mention readers contacting me to say what an outstanding book it is. I'll never forget the first time the proof came, with its dramatic cover by Sarah-Jane Crowson.
I became friends with Sarah via Twitter as we shared our poems and found in each other like-minded poets. More than this, we recognised similarities in each other with our left-wing political views, our daft sense of humour and love of Star Wars GIFS. Over five years, many GIFS were exchanged, along with discussions about our respective kids. When I set up Black Bough poetry in 2019, she sent her work, which was always sparse, arresting and visually stunning - a lesson always in poetic economy. Sarah found a way to deal with her illness through artful, metaphorical poetry. Her wintry landscapes, replete with swooping, talon-bearing owls and wolves hunting through the night were, of course, figurative for some of the gruelling experiences she went through with treatment. Many of the poems remind me of fairytales, the darkest ones, and there was always great beauty there, however haunting or bleak.
Many people have read her Christmas feature in 2021. This has been mentioned to me so many times over the past few years by readers far and wide.
Over the years, I felt like I knew Sarah well - and her family, too. Sarah sent me clips of her son playing the piano - what a talented musician Fintan is; or would share progress reports on her daughter Sadhbh's studies. Her love for her family and husband, Aussie, was one of the aspects of Sarah's life that shone through as she would tell me stories of the places they had travelled over the years and how they were the best of friends. Sarah had a lot of friends and we would share anecdotes and news, especially poetry stuff. Sarah was kind enough to review and spotlight many writers on her blog. She had a selfless streak.
Sarah hosted our platform on Twitter, TopTweetTuesday, several times, and was a regular contributor posting her own work and boosting others. There was no ego or edge with her. She was in it for the joy, the wonder and the creativity and enjoyed offering encouragement to other writers freely.
I followed Sarah's writing quite closely and it was a privilege to make her two books with Sídhe Press The Crow Gods and Always Fire, book of the months. Sarah was a writer of consistent quality. She was capable of writing direct, accessible poems and mixing this up with more complex pieces - always a versatile talent.
Sarah's funeral was a very sad occasion, a particularly emotional service with a lot of her poems read with beautiful music and eulogies. On one side, I couldn't help feeling that Sarah was still young and had a lot more work in her. I also reflected that her condition helped her focus her mind and her art and take a lot of joy from it, perhaps more than many writers I know. Three published books in a relatively short space of time was quite an achievement.
Sarah never told me she was a Consultant Psychiatrist. I knew she had been a child and adolescent psychiatrist but she didn't talk about her achievements in this field, becoming quite a distinguished figure.
I can't ever remember Sarah moaning about anything or criticising anyone. She always seemed grateful for what she had - from the love of her family to strong friendships with people around the world. In the end, it was great to have played a part in getting her work out there while there was still time and to nominate her for the Forward Prize, the Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net. No favours done as a friend. It was all on merit. I will continue to admire the work she published with Sídhe Press.
We will miss Sarah very much, her legion of friends and fans. I personally feel that her writing legacy will probably rest on her poems that are particularly stark, the wintry, nature poems with nature at its most austere, but Sarah's poems about her family are also notable. Who knows what will be read in a few years time but Sarah's vital work has the quality and gravitas to be read long in the future. There's certainly something of the power, terror and wild beauty of Ted Hughes's poetic landscapes in there, albeit in Sarah's own distinctive style.
I will miss my friend. Many of us will miss her. We have a bounty of her words to savour, which provides some consolation.
Much love for our talented friend and to her lovely family,
Matthew M C Smith
January 2025.
