Poetry. EARLY IN MY LIFE is a sequence of six poems incorporating "delicate daily-life observations" (Time Out) with a depth and precision of statement by this British poet. Randell is the author of six previous collections and was the editor of Amazing Grace for three years. Her Selected Poems 1970-2005 appeared from Shearsman in 2006. Writing of Randell's work in The Guardian, Jane Hardy said, "Her subject is often the quiet (and not so quiet) desperation of the people she helps. What elevates the dramatic monologues above raw emotion to real art is Randell's ear for the way language reveals character. Randell sees no contradiction in being a social worker who writes; on the contrary, she says 'The skills are the same: listening, picking things up about people from small details.' She has virtually created a new genre--the case history as fable."