“Beautiful poems … they have a quiet power”
Helen lives in South Devon.
In 2022 she was selected as one of the emerging writers in the South West by Literature Works.
She has an MA with distinction in Creative Writing from Exeter University and is a member of Moor Poets.
“Intelligent writing … beautifully moving moments … mapped with tenderness and honesty”
Sand on the Stairs
Debut pamphlet published by Grey Hen
“Sand on the Stairs is a vividly sensory collection of poems built on domestic and familial themes. But these poems also wander boldly out of doors, along the borderlands of river and coast, carefully observing and recording, with a tender and humane voice that is both musical and crafted. Whether exploring memories through a piano, a butter dish, or sandy footsteps left on the stairs – these memorable poems are alive to the traces we leave of ourselves in each other’s lives” – Andy Brown
“Helen Scadding’s poems have precise evocations of time and place. Yet for each ‘here’ a poem will offer an ‘elsewhere’. The past is remembered in the immediate moment. Each presence reminds us of an absence. She writes of loss and diminishment with cool accuracy and a warmth of feeling” -Tim Dooley
“I admire all these poems: they are taut without sacrificing the lyrical, with an emotional range from image-laden depth to poignant humour”- Roselle Angwin
You can order a copy
from the publishers, Grey Hen, here
or from me by completing this order form
ISBN 978-1-0196455-2-0
- Wintering Spellbinder magazine – Spring 2025
- Wordless The Poetry Lighthouse
- Open the name drawer The Poetry Lighthouse
- Horn’s Cross Pens of the Earth second prize 2024
- If I swallowed a tree Clarion 1
- Stroking peaches Green Fuses Vole Poetry Competition Spring 2024
- Milk teeth Literary Mama
- Visitors Green Ink – Forage
- Gifts for the dying – shortlisted Aesthetica Creative Writing Award 2023
- Ode to mobility-buggy riders Typishly
- Commended by Frosted Fire First Pamphlets Competition 2023
- Mire spell & Granny Mire in Unearthing Dartmoor
- Gifts for the dying Raceme April 23
- Minority Ink, Sweat & Tears
- Nightlights Kent and Sussex Poetry Competition 2022
- Work Tears in the Fence 76
- Black swan & Gone granny Orbis 199 March 22
Recently published poems
To read these poems,
scroll down
for the list of
recent poems
or click here
for the full list
“Poignant image making and carefully constructed sparse lyricism … full of integrity”
Poems
- Open the name drawer
- Wordless
- Wintering
- Stroking peaches
- If I swallowed a tree
- Horn’s Cross
- Visitors
- Milk teeth
- Sand on the stairs
- Ode to mobility-buggy riders
- Black swan
- Piano
- White Island
- Tulips for a new house
- Coastal origami
- Caught by the tide
- Apple crumble
- Spring tide
- Gifts for the dying
- Work
- Letting herself in
- Gone granny
- All come to light
- Night and day
New and local voices in poetry for National Poetry Day
Helen was reading from her new pamphlet, Sand on the Stairs (see below) on National Poetry Day Thurs 3 Oct at 6.30pm in Exeter.