A Manx author has published her second book of risque rhymes and limericks.

Jan Allison’s ‘Toilet Humour and Risqué Rhymes’ is a collection of 373 poems, and has been published after the success of her first book ‘A Giggle A Day Can Chase The Blues Away’.

Talking about the new release, Jan said: ‘Many of the poems are limericks which is my favourite poetry form, and the book is split in two sections; “Toilet Humour” being the first and “Risque Rhymes” the second.

‘It is not for those of a prudish nature, and both books carry a red flag warning for rude and bawdy humour.

‘I had some illustrations produced for both books by Isabelle Lyon, a local student who did some wonderful pictures for me. The covers for both books were produced by a graphic designer I found online - he lives in Morocco!’

Jan’s first book, which was released in 2023, sold on Amazon in the UK, USA and Canada and has 19 five star ratings, while roughly 75 copies were sold locally.

One local man and his wife, Chris and Julie Kilford, purchased eight signed copies and met with Jan at the Sea Terminal in Douglas, telling her how they ‘loved the humour’ within the book.

Admitting that she disliked poetry growing up, Jan picked up a pen and started to write in 2013 when her husband was undergoing cancer treatment.

Jan said: ‘He was in cancer surgery on the Wirral, and my first poem “Splendid Isolation” was deep and sad. My husband had robotic surgery for prostate cancer in 2013, and he was fine for many years until it came back in 2019 and then again last year.

‘Splendid Isolation was all about how scared and vulnerable I felt. Now, having been writing for 11 years and having learned so much about poetry, I look back and see how the poem could be improved - but I would never change a single word.

‘Writing has helped me through some of the most challenging years of my life. I was destined to write one day, it was just the trauma of my husband’s cancer surgery that unleashed this hidden creativity.’

When asked if she had any advice for young or aspiring new writers of poetry, Jan said: ‘You should write down and save every idea.

‘It may not be useful straight away, but I have lines I wrote several years ago that I’ve used to write poems later using just these few words as a prompt.

‘My husband set me up a voice recording app, and it has proven invaluable when writing this book. I use it all the time, as I never know when or where inspiration will hit and if I don’t get it down straight away, then the idea can vanish.

‘Believe in yourself, follow your heart and don’t be deterred by negative critique!’

Jan’s books are priced at £9.99 and can be found on Amazon books, while there is a small supply of signed copies of both books at Chree Brae gift shop in the Square in Castletown.