Comic poetry by Cheryl May now available in book form

You could almost hear a collected sigh of 'at last!' from her many fans.

Cheryl May, Isle of Wight writer and performer of pantomime, plays and humorous songs has finally put her much-loved comic poetry into a book.

Not Just Desserts is a compendium of poems that are witty, laugh-out-loud funny, and, as she demonstrated at its at CHOYD (Community Hall of Yarmouth and District), hootingly performable.

Her topics range from things political – a certain Boris not wanting to give up being PM – to being a rather long-in-the-tooth but short in stature panto fairy, to exploring the ways different breeds of watchdogs might watch.

But mostly they are about food. In her delightfully candid foreword she says "I hope you will appreciate the sacrifices I've made over the years to bring you this book. Oh the many cakes and dinners I've had to suffer for my art!", before dipping into the memories evoked by food.

Cheryl is known for her puns and play on words. She welcomed her packed audience with The Dieter's Prayer – "Our larder, which aren't in my kitchen, narrower be my aim . . .", and went on to The Moon Was in Aquarius, a tussle between the good (fruit and veg) and the bad (cream cakes, strawberry trifle) while shopping in Sainsbury's.

Fish 'n' Chip Friday was a celebration of the national meal eaten in different ways by her husband (fork) and herself (fingers).

Making poetry fun for children gave rise to Wacky Animals at School ("then there are all the questions like 'what does flatulent mean") – while making poetry fun for everyone, with a poem about being unusually hirsute (Waxing Lyrical) involved serious embarrassment to her grandchildren who were in the audience.

A favourite with audiences – Cheryl regularly performs at Figgy Gigs, the once-a-month spoken word gathering at CHOYD – is Larry the Downing Street Cat, and somehow she brought to life the very opinionated cat with his quietly shocking behaviour. He certainly had a lot to say about the ever-changing incumbents of Number 10.

Not Just Desserts is published by local publisher Naked Figleaf Press, available from Medina Bookshop Cowes, The Cabin Freshwater, Babushka Bookshop Shanklin, and nakedfigleafcollective.co.uk