Boom!

The title poem of this new collection of poems by Carolyn Jess-Cooke: ''Boom!'' enacts the moment when the new baby arrives in the family ''like a hand grenade''. ''Becoming a mother changed me in every single way,'' says the author, ''my first child - born in October 2006 - just about knocked me sideways. There were many reasons for this, but here''s the biggest one: I could not believe how publi...