Description
Annette is a Midlands-based poet who lives with far too many books in a small house near the Grand Union canal. She was born in 1951 in New Zealand and grew up there, but after some years of travelling, she put down new roots in England.
She did not begin writing until she retired, when an adult education class introduced her to the delights and challenges of poetry – she has been immersed in reading and writing it ever since. Her work has appeared in a variety of magazines and anthologies; in 2018 she won West Midlands Poetry on Loan, and in 2023 was one of the winners in the Hysteria Writing Competition.
Her first collection of poetry was shortlisted in the Rubery Book Awards 2026 and is a sharply observed commentary on the wonder to be found in what many would consider ‘ordinary’. Richly detailed and evocative, it is easy to imagine yourself seeing the world through Annette’s eyes.
Publication Date: 31st October 2025
Author: Annette Iles
ISBN: 978-1-0684474-5-7
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Praise for On New Street I See A Mermaid
Comments from the Rubery Book Awards Shortlist 2026
These poems are delightfully down-to-earth, and the author has a wonderful eye for evocative detail. Her interest in the mundane and her ability to find transformative moments in ostensibly meagre lives are both extremely enjoyable. The title poem is an excellent example: here she makes a mermaid’s tail of a homeless lady’s ‘stained sleeping bag … fishtailed around her legs’; it closes with the strange, gorgeous image of her ‘singing/of how it feels to be beautiful/how it feels to be shipwrecked’. Original, arresting, often visceral images of this kind pervade the book: a sparrowhawk ‘waits like a gun’ in ‘Bird Feeders’, a mother ‘baits her hook/with lemons’ in ‘Another Conversation About Where I Should Live’. In ‘Song for Midsummer’ the speaker asks, ‘what shape/will the small cloud take next, do you think?/a door?/a suitcase?’ In Annette Iles’s well-crafted poems anything seems possible! There is so much to see, hear and smell here. It’s a superb collection of enthralling, relatable poetry, with an optimistic feel, that rewards repeated readings.
Such an enjoyable read
“Annette Iles’s debut collection of poetry is a captivating read. An eclectic work of hope, joy, light-hearted humour, even a touch of magic and at once grief, despair, loss and a complicated relationship with place. Iles creates vivid characters and punctuates her work with beautiful imagery of nature. At times visceral and melancholic, at others sharply observational and witty, this book of almost 40 mostly very short poems is a quick read, though this belies the breadth and depth of the work.
I particularly enjoyed the impactful imagery of nature. Much of it concerns bodies of water and coasts: ‘Iona’, ‘What Is Kept’, ‘On Sea Lane Someone Is Playing The Piano’. Other poems create worlds of storms, seasons, fruit trees, all atmospheric and vibrant. For me, Iles firmly acknowledges the healing power of nature, how our lives – our memories our emotions – are entwined with it and how it shapes us. This can be seen in a number of the poems but in particular ‘When You Are Sad’, ‘For Planting’, ‘Waves Were For Other Kids’ and ‘Mrs Davies Is Well Enough To Leave The House’.
You can’t help but notice that much of the nature theme is rooted in place – particularly New Zealand, (‘The Temperature In The Crater Lake’ uses seismic activity in Mount Ruapehu as a metaphor) and the memories of a youth on the other side of the world. Iles makes unknown places seem familiar, yet I didn’t find this ‘call’ of home as nostalgic as you might expect – rather almost cautionary. There’s an interesting, wary uneasiness in poems including ‘Another Conversation About Where I Should Live’ and ‘Talking About The Weather’.
Many of the poems in On New Street I See A Mermaid have an element of humour to them. Some, in the face of adversity. ‘Rondeau For The Mirror’ finds humour in ageing. I interpret ‘You Know It Is Over’s light ending as knowingly amusing and it works to convey the restorative effects of hope and time “when you hum to yourself as the workman changes the locks”. Other works showcase a gentle observational humour, knowing and wise in its tone, with just enough cynicism (‘Field Notes’). Of course these observations reveal deeper truths. The embodiment of luck in ‘The Gentleman Of Fortune’ conjures an image so sharply observed, so believable, that it will stay with me. Surely none is funnier though than ‘The Day Of The Electrician’.
Altogether heavier parts of the collection are rather more visceral, at times confronting in their honesty and unafraid to reflect on tough emotions; loss, grief, despair. Iles’s free verse uses form to particularly good effect here to convey a sense of claustrophobia/hopelessness/an all-consuming sadness, particularly in ‘Waiting For Optimism’, another poem to capture the sense of a prevailing hope. ‘Edge’, ‘We Make Soup’ and ‘Woman In The Distance’ are powerful offerings within this category. Personally I found ‘A Woman Who Does Not Believe In Spells’ resonated with me, a familiar pain and longing, a quiet despair captured beautifully – it moved me to tears. The deceptively magical, ultimately bleak ‘11 August 1999’ is also a stand-out for me.
On New Street I See A Mermaid is such an enjoyable read, a very personal work written from the heart of a superb writer. There’s lots to unpack in this thought-provoking, moving, yet very readable collection. I highly recommend adding it to your bookshelf and re-visiting it often.” LY
Something to treasure
“This collection of poems by Annette Isles is something to treasure. Poetry lovers will enjoy her witty, unusual and original work which appears to be based on observation of everyday events such as a walk in the wood, having a conversation with a stranger and hearing piano music whilst on a walk near to home. However, more significant traumas like loss and grief, rejection and guilt, low self-esteem and loneliness are explored with sensitivity and hope.
Some may notice the different forms of poetry she uses. I was surprised to see a Rondeau – not too difficult to spot in ‘ Rondeau for the mirror’. There’s a definite rhythm and flow to each piece, not too much use of rhyming and every poem does have an appropriate style,
Those who proclaim a dislike of poetry but a willingness to read this pamphlet might find themselves pleasantly surprised, especially if they identify with something in one or more of the verses. For them it could be the entry point to a new interest.
I have read and re-read this collection. The first time I read the whole thing in one sitting and was disappointed when there was nothing more to read. But then a more measured approach allowed some of the poems to settle in my memory bank. I am rewarded when an appropriate poem pops into my mind unbid, giving me a new perspective to consider. For example, this happens frequently as I drive around the countryside. I am pleased to report that I no longer think of all warehouses as ugly Thanks to the poem ‘On the matter of perspectives’ I now try to imagine them as ocean liners though I have struggled to hear the saxophone music so far.
The themes covered resonate with me both on a deep level and with the lighter subjects. Anyone who has struggled with getting a workman to undertake specialist tasks is likely to enjoy ‘The day of the electrician’. That poem is certainly uplifting.
I am left wanting more. I am confident that I won’t be alone in this once this pamphlet is accessible.” HS
An outstanding collection
“I didn’t so much read these poems as inhabit them, experiencing the rich imagery with every sense fully engaged. Annette Iles has a flair for using original images in an extremely effective way. In her title poem, On New Street I See A Mermaid, the description paints an immediate and accurate picture, ‘…the stained sleeping bag she has fishtailed round her legs…’ I could see this poor woman with absolute clarity. Another haunting image which is still with me days after reading the poem occurs in What Is Kept: ‘I hear the ghost-shift of tides on shingle…’ But these are just two examples from a veritable treasure trove of indelible and beautiful images.
There is, however, a great deal more to Annette’s poetry. She meets life’s sadnesses head-on, as in A Woman Who Does Not Believe In Spells, where she writes ‘she does not believe in this but is broken by injections…’ followed by ‘…might/this huge-bellied moon hold a child in its gift?’ beautifully conveying what’s at stake here. Her poems are not depressing. They have a sense of calm and an understanding of the enduring patience of the natural world, as in When You Are Sad: ‘[Trees] …do not mind if you have no words.They accept silence as easily/ as if silence was a beetle/ or a small pale fungus.’
There is some poignant and very enjoyable humour in some poems. These are just two examples from a rich store: In You Know It Is Over, the writer is initially devastated by the ending of a relationship, but later realises ‘…how easy it is to breathe…and hums to herself…as the workman changes the locks.’ I also relished these lines from Field Notes, where a pair of ducks overhear a couple disagreeing over the identification of the species: ‘He gives the couple in the hide six months/not every species mates for life.’
This is an outstanding collection which I shall turn to again and again.” HC
On new sheets I see a true poet
“It was a pleasure to read these poems: so many interesting takes on what could so easily have been banal realities. Annette Iles sees beauty in everything; she even has a hopeful take on “forgetting”. The title piece is especially clever and as deep as the sea around her mermaid’s tail, while her several wry observations on nature form snapshots at the same time amusing and so very true. I particularly liked her sparrowhawk “waiting like a gun”, and the poem about the electrician made me laugh. Annette has baited her hook not only with lemons but also with clever splashes of light and shade. An intriguing collection of poems, I would like to see more of her work.” DP
An invitation to dwell on questions
“In this beautifully crafted collection of poems, the author invites us on a slow, contemplative journey, one that notices the fragments of what it is to be human, and what it means to live. I was left with the sense that the text is less a statement to be taken at face value, and more an invitation to dwell in the questions it awakens.
Exquisitely observational, the collection encourages us to pause, to look more closely, and to find the extraordinary within ordinary moments and interactions. Themes of fragility and resilience, human connection, and the quiet beauty that surrounds us emerge with subtle power. Through finely tuned metaphor, rhythm, and tone, the style shifts seamlessly—at times playful and light (“The Day of the Electrician”, “The Caff”), at others deeply melancholic and reflective (“Edge”, “Forgetting”). This is not a collection to be rushed; rather, it asks us to linger, to see differently, and to take a moment of stillness and delight within our own worlds.” CB
