orig. Florence Margaret Smith
born Sept. 20, 1902, Hull, Yorkshire, Eng.
died March 7, 1971, London
British poet.
She lived most of her life with an aunt in a London suburb and worked many years as a secretary. Her poetry, an unsentimental combination of the ludicrous and the pathetic, expresses an original and visionary personality. In the 1960s her poetry readings became popular, and she made radio broadcasts and recordings. Her Collected Poems (1975) is illustrated with her James Thurber -like sketches; it includes her first book, A Good Time Was Had by All (1937), and Not Waving but Drowning (1957), whose title poem appears in many anthologies.