May sees us spotlighting a fantastic selection of poetry, in a range of different styles, covering a variety of topics. Check out the list below for full details;
Life According to Poetry by Sarah Northwood
Poetry flows effortlessly from my thoughts to the journey of my soul. In reality, the world is seldom as simple and things are harder to bear in darkness.
As you, too, take this journey, remember those whom we choose to share our path will light our way. It leaves us ready to face the world afresh once again.
I will never be the person I was, instead I will be something better.
I will let the gift of today help me reach the heights of tomorrow,
and the scars of my past will be the jewels glinting on the top of the mountain.
Buy here
Smoke and Shadows by Joanne Van Leerdam
It’s a common thing. As we go through life, we discover that people and things are frequently not what they seem to be, and what we understand to be the truth of our own experience often turns out to be something quite different instead. Life is as full of illusions as it is of genuine experiences.
False friends abound. Trials hurt, but then deliver unexpected strength and blessings. People put up smokescreens to hide their true intentions or feelings; and only sometimes do we ever discover why. The world seems hateful until someone delivers light and love in a surprising way.
The poems in this new collection explore some of the illusions and deceptions people experience in their lives, the clarity and wisdom gained from hindsight, and the lessons we can learn from them.
“Smoke and shadows yield to glimpses of light—
Only then we begin to see:
When we learn to perceive things as they are,
We can have peace with whatever will be.”
Buy here
My Crazy World: Collected Poems by John Evans
This is a collection of 16 poems covering a variety of subjects. These are personal musings and philosophies of my own, at times slightly comical at others a little dark and brooding. Ultimately these represent some of my experiences in the world to date. Buy UK and US
Eyes Wide Open: Poems From a Fractured Mind by Matthew Earl
A collection of poems. Serious subjects are covered in this collection.Through the darkness of depression comes the words that I write.Take a journey with me and maybe some of the words inside will strike a chord with you. Buy UK and US
Scars and Stars, the Collection: Poems From a Fractured Mind by Matthew Earl
A Poetry collection based on our fight with various mental health issues. Hard hitting and raw this collection tries to show what it’s like living with an unseen illness. Suicide, abuse and self harm are touched upon in this book. Buy UK and US
In My Words by Yasir Suilaiman
This book is a small collection of poems I wrote on various topics. Some may be on romance, some on women, while others on philosophy. I request the readers to consider that these are a few poems I have saved over the years. There are hundreds more that remain unpublished.
Also, many of these poems have already been listed on one platform or the other. Poetry or being an author is not my profession. I have been writing poetry since the age of eight and it continues to remain a hobby. These poems simply highlight the ways I view different things in the world. These are voices of my heart.
There are stories behind each poem in this book that I would love to share on special request. Some of them are from my books. I have tried to cover different subjects through my poetry. Readers of my books and poems are requested to observe that my writing is as varied as the number of people across the globe. Buy UK and US
Solitary Confinement by Kat Lehmkuhl
Come on a journey with me and let the pages of life turn softly before you. Rest a bit from life’s hardness and cozy under a hand-knitted blanket with me. Keep the tea hot, keep the fires stoked, and listen. Hear the lullaby of a soft piano soothe you into a calm you have forgotten existed. Add some chocolates and I will be there, if only as the voice in your mind, telling you my tales. You see, we all have challenges. We all have stories. This is mine. Buy UK and US
Atha by Sally-Shakti Willow (Available from May 6th)
Sally-Shakti Willow’s bold new collection Atha utilises collage technique to espouse a Utopian Poetics described as ‘a relationship of non-alienation between reader and writer’ in which one encounters one’s embodied and intersubjective self. In combining fragments from a rich array of sources such as yoga manuals with the 24 hour news cycle, Willow ensures that this enquiry fully integrates inner and outer worlds in lines like ‘hormone secretions stimulate freedom of movement.’ In her series of rituals for Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, this utopian tension is memorably chased by a ‘ghostword’ that ‘sembles’ and ‘dissembles’ as it ‘search [es] the words / for the root.’ The final section ‘Movement & Meditation’ opens with the question ‘how to metabolise this’, when ‘this’ feels like all the evils of the world rising to engulf us. That the answer must be ‘my voice’ puts Willow’s courageous and generous work firmly in the company of writers like Maggie O’Sullivan – to whom she pays tribute here – making Atha an accomplished and inspiring act of ‘edgewordering.’
–Scott Thurston
Buy here
Seasoned Eyes are Beaming by Jovannah Bar
Jovannah Bar is a regular visitor to Brighton. Like many, she feels at home in our vibrant seaside community. This talented young poet has had more than her share of life experiences. She has used poetry to put things into perspective, resulting in a unique collection of observations and recollections in verse. Invisible Voices editors have been moved by these poems, and their relatable subject matter. We hope that you too, will find joy in this work, and be as inspired by Miss Bar’s poems as we have been. This collection is being published as part of the Written Word programme offered by Invisible Voices of Brighton & Hove as part of Brighton Fringe Festival 2018. Buy UK and US
Our spotlighted promotions for the coming months are listed below, so keep an eye out for those;
June – Anthologies
July – Audio Books
August – Books in a Series
September – Short Stories (under 10k words)
October – 31 Days of Horror
November – Fantasy Books
December – Children’s Books
Red Cape Publishing 