From Bad to Verse – revisited

Do you remember, back in December, I posted about Dianne Phillips-Zito’s book of light-hearted poetry, From Bad to Verse and that I supplied the illustrations? Well, here’s a bit more information for you – seeing as that certain time of the year is approaching and you will be needing ideas for presents.

It is available from Amazon (like most things) and is an ideal stocking filler – From Bad to Verse by Dianne Phillips-Zito

These are some of my favourite illustrations from her book:

This poem is about domestic disputes in care homes, and how sometimes a little mis-communication goes a long way.

Things don’t always go to plan – well, not the plan that the boss had. But sometimes you have to wait for the right moment.

And the things we do – or don’t – for love.

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You have to laugh

Last year I was fortunate to be asked to illustrate a book of humorous poetry, so I did.
As an illustrator my job is fairly straightforward – read the poem, draw the picture. The difficult bit is with the writer.

The author of these chuckle-worthy gems is Dianne Phillips-Zito, she lives in a rather bleak and remote part of Western Australia, so she needs a sense of humour to start with. She then has to produce the poetry – not the rambling formless excuse for bad prose – but proper poetry, that rhymes and has metre. And she has to produce sufficient to fill a book – and it has to make the reader smile.

For those who have never tried, laying out the pages of a book to look attractive, as well as being the well ordered vehicle for the poems, is another work of art. And getting the whole shebang through the printing and publishing system needs the patience of Job.

It was a long time from idea to book shelf, but she has done it and “From Bad to Verse” is available from various publishers as well as Amazon Books. It is too late for Christmas, but buy a copy anyway, because you deserve to have your spirits lifted – and 2021 is the time to do it – because the cartoons are brill, even if I say so myself! A triumph of trans-global corroboration.

Dianne also writes horror/dark short stories, published in the UK and USA, under the pen name Anna Harris.