Fiona Sinclair lives in a village in Kent with her husband Kim and an imaginary dog. She is the editor of the on-line poetry magazine Message in Bottle. Fiona‘s work has been published in numerous magazines. A Talent for Hats is her sixth collection.  Fiona reviews poetry and also art exhibitions, specifically at Turner Contemporary, Margate.  

Her writing has been published in numerous magazines, including: 
Snakeskin Poetry Webzine; Obsessed with Pipework; London Grip: Prole Magazine; The Lake; The Journal Literary Magazine:The Peeking Cat: Ascent Aspirations; and Pulsar. 

A TALENT FOR HATS
by Fiona Sinclair

ISBN 978-1-907435-39-3
Published February 2017
​31 poems
Perfect-bound paperback
​46 pages 15cm wide x 21cm tall
£6.00 + p&p ​

Fiona is attracted to the overlooked, even peculiar aspects of modern life.  In this short collection she takes as her theme the “second skins”  that we put on  in  order  to  cope  or hide from issues of identity, Her knack for mixing slang and every-day language with a more conventional poetic turn of phrase, makes these poems sparkle with brilliant, unusual  language and images.

Banker
(From "A Talent for Hats")
 
Drowning in dress choice, she wants no
Marilyn Look at me entrance, rather
something to carry her through dry-mouthed solo arrival.
Pulls out sale dregs number that on her
lives up to its designer label promise,
but flashbacks; blown out by friend last minute,
folk night that anesthetised her rock and roll soul.
restraining yawns like Tourette’s outbursts at dull dinner.
Strokes with little-girl longing new strapless
but time saved up from work plus son sleepover windfall
cannot be gambled on untried garment.
Ponders impulse buy plain-Jane shift
then relives: shoes kicked off dancing until all hours;
gold strike of finding new friends at a 50th;
child’s fizzy laughter uncorked in a comedy club;                   

​so slips on the dress that promises an evening well spent…

© Fiona Sinclair
​

Here, boldly and poignantly written, is the understanding that beneath a woman’s outward appearance and smart excuses, there lurks the fear that she is losing her power to attract, that the beauty of her youth inexorably, inevitably fades, taking her power with it.  ....Sinclair has excellent observational powers... '
 Agnes Meadows, poet, editor and reviewer

To be published in 2019:

MY LIFE IN CLOTHES
by Fiona Sinclair