Wigan poet's verses in aid of animal charity

She is selling her new volume A Long Way From Home on Amazon and dog owners in particular are sure to find plenty to delight them between the covers.

The book, which is Michelle’s second collection of poetry to go on sale, is also raising money for Paws 2 Rescue which saves dogs from appalling conditions in Romania, gets animals neutered to reduce the number of unwanted puppies and raises awareness of animal cruelty and how to combat it in the Eastern European country.

The fund-raising rubs off on the verses as well, with Michelle penning poems explaining Paws 2 Rescue’s work and other canine-themed pieces.

Although it is helping a charity which aids dogs in often-horrendous circumstances, Michelle said the book’s tone is light and humorous.

She said: “I love animals and feel really strongly about animal cruelty so I found this charity, got in touch and asked if I could do a book of poems for them. They were made up.

“It’s a humorous book. There are eight poems all about what the charity does. They’re quite funny, I didn’t want it to be full of tear-jerking poems.

“The rest of the poems are about dogs’ names and other daft verses.”

Michelle brought out a book earlier this year inspired by how different people in society have responded to the Covid-19 pandemic and is now getting used to being known for her light-hearted writing.

She jokes that friends have even begun calling her Pem Ayres, a tribute to comic poet Pam Ayres and a reference to Michelle living near the border of Pemberton and Orrell.

For A Long Way From Home Michelle has been helped by her friend Paul Ellams, who selected four dogs the charity has worked with and painted pictures of them which appear on the front cover.

There are also some pictures of canines before and after Paws 2 Rescue helped them.

However, Michelle reassured potential readers that she had not chosen any images that would be too horrific or distressing.

Two other important inspirations for the book are Michelle’s own two cocker spaniels, called Jenson and Lola and sometimes therefore referred to together as “J-Lo” after singing megastar Jennifer Lopez.

She is hoping to raise around £500 for Paws 2 Rescue and has taken on the task of getting around 100 authors’ copies to friends and other people who have asked for them to get as much money to the charity as possible.

Proceeds from both the Kindle and paper versions will be going to the charity.

A Long Way From Home by Michelle Glaister is out now and available on Amazon.