Poetry is a very personal thing. It feels like belonging, a favourite jumper we go back to every fall, no matter the number of holes that are in it. It is a sink or a toilet bowl we empty our worst selves into. While reading Sammi Yamashiro’s book “The Peach Pit Mask”, I felt a bit like an intruder, for stumbling upon some of the rawest and most honest poetry I have ever read. I felt like I needed to stop turning the pages, but I couldn’t.
Read Moreadam Shove is an Estonian English poet, who writes poems laden with cryptic metaphors and pop culture references; doused in vodka and thrift shop ideas. Inspired by RZA, Frank Ocean, secondhand clothes, models, tattoos and expensive cars.
Read MoreCaitlin Upshall is a British-American author from Washington State. Her work has been published by the tiny journal, OyeDrum, The Sweet Tree Review, Entropy Magazine, and others. In her spare time, she enjoys most things dinosaur-related, trivia nights, and reading scholarly articles on the Great Emu War.
Read MoreBefore you can publish any book, you must make sure the text in that book is presented in a professional and eloquent way. No one bakes their favourite meal in a messy kitchen (unless that’s your thing). We want your manuscript to come out so polished, you could it from its floor. Or so to speak. If your kitchen is a mess, it doesn’t matter that the most delicious food is piled up in the cupboards, health and safety wouldn’t let you anywhere near it.
Read MoreIt’s the season to spend money lalalalalala. So you gave the poet you love a thousand and one notebooks for their birthday already. Christmas is coming up, you start to sweat. Your loved one is still filling out the notebooks you gave them the previous year. They have the most beautiful pens to do that with. And yes, the holidays are all about love and spending time together, but we are here to save your arse all the same with some material goodies for your loved one. Here’s our list for Santa this year.
Read MoreIt is both true and heart-breaking to admit that we are not doing enough for women. I am not doing enough for women. Because I’m busy, because I’m tired, because I don’t have enough time, because actually our current society isn’t set up to accommodate the collective awakening needed to do enough for women.
Read MoreNelly Bryce is a writer, a poet, a mother of four living in Manchester, UK. In 2016, after spending most of her career working in HR (learning and development), she left her corporate job to launch Guilty Mothers Club, a community for modern feminist mothers. Nelly is a journaling addict, who is never far from a notebook and pen. She is also an optimist and encourager, so if you need a dose of either of those two, you found a home with Nelly.
Read MoreSean Felix writes with the fervour of every poet who has ever fallen in love with the seductive muse of Paris. His work is fuelled by a gritty determination to keep crawling forward – through insomniac nights and midnight possessions. “From the echoing drums on cold stone / a necromancer in the shape of a black man / too ugly to share my face so I draw on it.” He possesses an ability to set a vivid scene and tell a story so dramatic, you’ll awake as if from a lucid dream.
Read MoreLife is busy, worrying, stressful and chaotic at times, but it's also marvellous, awesome and full of little moments of joy when we take the time to look around us. In my experience, writing poetry can help us feel grounded and calm, so I have put together my five top tips for both new and experienced writers.
Read MoreJax Bulstrode writes poems, usually about rivers or fruit or being queer. Jax has had work published in Verandah Journal, Gems Zine, Wordly Mag, and Blue Bottle journal. You can find them online at @jaxlb1234 on Instagram. Jax lives and writes in Naarm/Melbourne.
Read MoreStephanie Powell is a poet based in London. Her work has been recently featured in the Bacopa Literary Review, The Halcyone, Not very quiet and New World Writing. She grew up in Melbourne, Australia and also works in documentary television.
Read MoreJennie Louise is a writer and poet from Hampshire, UK. She has been writing from a young age, but only began to experiment with poetry during her teen years as a form of self-expression. Jennie wrote and self-published her debut poetry collection, All The Things I Never Said, in 2020. When not writing, she can be found curled up on the sofa with a book and a cup of tea.
Read MoreT.C. Anderson is a multimedia artist based in Houston, Texas. Additionally, T.C. is a writer and poet, with work published in Capsule Stories, Pages Penned in Pandemic: A Collective, mental health anthology Pluviophile, The Raven Review, and more. She proudly serves as a reader for the literary journal for youth writer organization The Young Writers Initiative, Juven. Her poetry collection, The Forest, was published by Riza Press in 2021 and will serve as the inspirational basis of the aforementioned art installation being developed with artist Mari Omori, as well as a launching point for a larger, developing cross-media project.
Read MoreEleanor is a historian of medicine living in Yorkshire. She writes about parenting, finding belonging, and the afterlife of other versions of ourselves. She has most recently been featured in the parenting anthology Songs of Love and Strength. You can find her work at @pushing.and.pining on Instagram.
Read MoreBeyond the Veil Press is an international publisher of poetry and art for mental health awareness. They’re based in Tennessee and Colorado and are queer and ally owned. Beyond The Veil was created by two friends (Sarah Herrin and Josiah Callaway) who share a passion for mental health awareness and the supernatural. As art school graduates (majoring in Sequential Art a.k.a. comic books) their belief in the combined power of art and words is their driving force.
Read MoreGina Bowen lives, breathes, and photographs the mountains of Eastern Tennessee. She spends her time writing poetry and short stories on her porch and getting lost in the woods with her pups to photograph the beautiful landscapes.
Read MoreSome parts of self-publishing are scarier than others, and sometimes we look at the task ahead of us and wonder if writing the actual book was the easy part, especially when it comes to needing skills that some people go to college just to fully understand. But it doesn’t have to be scary or intimidating.
Read MoreReading poetry is cathartic to me. Reading poetry is supposed to be raw, confessional, a love, or hate letter from the poet to the reader. It’s supposed to be messy and thought-provoking. You make a statement; you have an impact on people through your words. You’re brave enough to touch on topics nobody else will do with such ferocity, sensibility, and finesse.
Cassie Senn’s first poetry chapbook, published in 2020, takes all the above into account and delivers poetry that cuts deep. “The Changing Temperatures of Heartache” is a collection of narrative short poems; each one takes over a single page and just because of that formatting, you get the idea that you peek into the narrator’s diary. It’s an excellent example of confessional poetry that ignites discussion around love that breaks you and cures you.
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