Nothing But The Poem - Kathryn Bevis

“To make art out of something painful, uncertain or damaging is an act of real empowerment” wrote Kathryn Bevis, who died in May 2024. Her first full-length poetry collection, The Butterfly House, was published two months earlier and tells the story of a life before and after a late-stage cancer diagnosis. The poems examine both life and death, encompassing experiences, terrible and sublime.

Her publishers Seren wrote in her obituary that she was "Perhaps one of the finest poets of her generation... (who) captured hearts and minds with her innovative use of form, language and metaphor to describe everyday life, experiences of women and terminal illness. She had a skill for finding light in the dark, celebration in sadness, and joy in the smallest moments."

Don Paterson described her as: " A poet of real wisdom, compassion, and fearlessness."

Sam Tongue took an immersive dive into two Kathryn Bevis poems My Cancer as a Ring-Tailed Lemur and Matryoshka. Find out what Sam - and the Friends Of The SPL group - took from these poems in our Nothing But The Poem podcast.