Your Cleaner Hates You is Cathi Rae’s debut poetry collection; she’s a local performance poet and is currently working as a cleaner. But please don’t expect the comforting smell of polish as you read though: the opening poem with the same title as the collection is quite a punchy diatribe.
Further in, we cover buying beds, dying dogs, feral boys and summer storms. Intimate secrets sit beside things found at bus stops. There are lists you want to devour quickly to get to the next but find yourself lingering longer over certain lines.
All through the collection, Rae lifts your heart with humour only to fill it with sorrow in the next stanza or paragraph. She explores memory and things forgotten; relationships with partners, employers, pets, parents, children; the passing of time and procrastination - all done with a beautiful blend of wit and poignancy.
Read the book.
Go see her perform.
About the reviewer
Lisa has just completed the MA course in Creative Writing at Leicester Uni, is working as a shopgirl, and although nearly 50 hasn’t yet decided what she wants to be when she grows up. You can find her online @noodleBubble
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