07.03.2010
......you really live and breathe poetic integrity. with best wishes, Heatherlee Hooker
22.03.2010
Nikki, is it you who wrote the delicate and lovely poem about two people in a garden who, after time, noticed a gate they had not seen before, and walked through it? I thought it so beautiful ... Gemma Rafaella Paterson Thorne.
30.04.2010– re Poetry Café, Salisbury
It was good to meet you last night ...... Thank you for your poems which you read so well. I like the freshness and directness in your work and the sense of your heart in it. all the best, David King
13.06.2010
I thoroughly enjoyed having you to read at our quarterly Gallery Reading ….. the audience was very appreciative. Helen Wood, Indian King Poets, Camelford.
27.07.2010 - Words and Ears II, Bradford-on-Avon
Thanks again so much for your guest spot last night, I really enjoyed hearing your work, and I'm sure everyone else did, too. I had a lovely text from Gareth Leake this morning, thought you'd like to share it -"...It was a lovely evening. The guest poet's work was very good. I thought, listening to her work, poetry is so powerful because it gives the opportunity to say things which would never otherwise be said or admitted. Even to yourself, let alone others." I thought that was an interesting comment. Dawn Gorman
16.10.2010 - Mere Festival
Since working with Nikki at the Mere Literary Festival in October, I have come to appreciate her work as witty, entertaining and deeply moving. Nikki's 2009 book: "Love Shines Beyond Grief" is truly remarkable. For me it is an ideal poetic companion to C. S. Lewis' "A Grief Observed", meriting the widest possible audience and continuing to be a blessing on many; it deserves its own place on the reading lists of all who are called to a life of pastoral care. Rev.John Page
12.10.2011 - Streetly Library
Some female poets who fly the flag for women’s issues seemingly make a point of writing to exclude men, not Nikki. Although written from a female perspective the inclusive nature of her writing was warm and accessible to men too. Poems from Love Shines Beyond Grief and Pink Nightie Poems told of fortitude in the face of serious illness. I shy from the platitudinous descriptions that some give of battles and victories in these situations. The patient doesn’t choose their fate, and there is no shame in being weak, nor ultimate triumph in bravery – you do your best. Reassuringly, Nikki’s light touch reflected that. No Substitute was a poignant reminder that no photograph can replace a person, Medical Time a well observed wry look at the unique relationship that hospital wards have with time and how at odds they are with the outside world.
Face Value Families was a wry look at how Facebook can assist, but should not lead, cohesion for extended families. Clothes Memories, both sharp and wistful, was certainly my favourite of all the poems she read. Only afterwards did I discover that she was in transit to a new life at the moment, the poem may have had a greater immediacy than was immediately apparent. The process of having a clear out of your wardrobe, yet with each item having a story to tell, lived as she told it. As delightful after her performance in person, as she was whilst reading, it was clear that Nikki has much to tell, not only from her published work, and I suspect more to explore and reveal. Gary Longden http://garylongden.wordpress.com
28.11.2011 - Writing in Health and Social Care
Thanks for coming on the course and sharing your poems - the hospital ones you read on Friday were very moving especially. Vicky Field