Böcker av Alan Parry

Collection Overview: The Broken Spine presents The Whiskey Tree, a profound anthology that embarks on a poetic journey into the untamed heart of nature. Curated by Editor-in-Chief Alan Parry, this collection captures the raw beauty and unbridled force of the natural world. The anthology features a diverse array of voices, each contributing to a rich tapestry that weaves together the many facets of nature's wildness. Featured Poets: Among the notable contributors, Anne Walsh Donnelly's A North-Mayo Blessing paints a vivid picture of love and memory intertwined with the natural landscape. Jordan Rafferty's Doghouse evokes the stark beauty of a deserted landscape, while David Butler's Cutting the Turf delves into the rhythms of nature and human interaction. Sue Finch, in Desert Antlers, beautifully captures a moment of poignant hesitation in a vast desert, and Karen Pierce Gonzalez's Olmec Crocodile: Cipactli offers a mythic exploration of nature's primal forces. Themes and Imagery: The poems in The Whiskey Tree range from the serene to the tumultuous, reflecting the multifaceted character of nature itself. From the haunting quietude of moonlit shores to the frenetic energy of crashing waves, each poem contributes to an overarching narrative that honors the wildness of nature. Imagery of the sea, deserts, and verdant landscapes abound, offering readers a kaleidoscopic view of the natural world. Vision and Impact: Alan Parry's vision for this collection was to document the untamed and rugged aspects of nature, not just in their beauty but also in their raw, sometimes daunting power. The Whiskey Tree is more than a poetry collection; it's a tribute to the indomitable spirit of the natural world, inviting readers to step into a realm where the wild reigns supreme. Invitation to Readers: We invite you to immerse yourself in this exquisite collection, where each poem is a window into the heart of the wild. Let The Whiskey Tree take you on a journey through landscapes, exploring the profound connection between humanity and the natural world. This anthology is a testament to The Broken Spine's commitment to celebrating the beauty, power, and diversity of nature through the art of poetry. Advance Praise: 'This compelling, essential anthology maps not only the Anthropocene landscape - the world fighting back against the destructive influence of humankind - but equally importantly, the interior landscape of human thought and human emotion, rich with its own beauty, its own wildernesses. These are poems with a raw power that demands our attention. They remind us we can never be truly whole until we acknowledge the untamed landscape of the imagination within ourselves.'- John Glenday, author of The Golden Mean'Nature poetry that avoids the obvious and demands to be explored in depth.'- Henry Normal, author of The Fire Hills 'Kudos to The Broken Spine for coalescing this new thematic anthology, its accumulative reset, mining and upending the pastoral tradition of landscape poetry. Each poem builds on the next, to produce new visionary territory where body/self/word are both inside and outside of nature, a wrestling with and overturning of the elements. Gritty, explosive, heartbreaking poems distil the human condition, expanding upon our relationships to emotion/environment, whether of scenes in park edges, at highway shoulders, in the cartographies of night streets and memory, in ravaged forests, or hallucinations of dying oceans. This is a soul-sourced magic book -- stark, beautiful, hopeful and groundbreaking!'- Robert Frede Kenter, author of Audacity of Form

This exceptional collection of poems takes readers on an unforgettable journey through life's mysteries and wonders. Her words are a bridge between the tangible and the intangible, allowing us to explore the delicate balance between life's fleeting moments and the eternal.Each poem is a brushstroke in a portrait of life, offering a unique perspective that lingers in the mind long after reading.This poetry collection, meticulously curated by Alan Parry, reflects the commitment of The Broken Spine to quality literature and its dedication to fostering diversity and inclusivity within the literary world.Advance Praise: 'Houbolt is a poet with a rare gift for insight, and she hands it to us smiling, at once wry and tender and always with an intuitive wisdom that feels personal and very real. To fall into step with her work, with its delighted reverence for the intimate detail and mess of the world, the natural world and its overlap with what humans wreak, and our own internal navigation, is to forget you're reading poetry at all. Her works are creatures far too busy living, out there in the sun and rain with skin humming and eyes open, to be aware that they're on a page, and it's this sense of brimming-aliveness that we carry away from any encounter with her skill. The generosity of spirit inside turns of phrase that make simple language build new images and lateral perspective is infectious and inviting, and every poem turns the stone to reveal a small and perfect surprise. Magic beneath in common places, in the infinite drive, in the human desire to hope that is the invisible engine powering all she writes. .... You cannot read this poet and walk back into the mundane unchanged, untouched by an awareness that everything you do, every interaction you have with the world, is a spell that gives and takes. That everything is transient and precarious and yet everything endures. Houbolt's deceptively deep refrains are a recipe for interaction with a world that pushes back but cannot take us down, and an antidote for the bitterness when it's tried.....'Ankh Spice, author of The Water Engine 'Kyla Houbolt's poems wouldabeen so punk 40 years ago, .30 years ago Kyla's collection, Surviving Death, would have crowned the Goth World. Never emo; dear God, never that. The poems in Surviving Death never foam from the trite or the emotionally derivative; and though her poems stalk death they are never haunted, shunted, or stunted by it. This collection pulls back the shroud of death, but not for the sake of being poetically macabre. Kyla Houbolt examines the fabrics of existence simply to ask it, "is that what you're wearing out tonight?" With Surviving Death, on the backside of our tombstones Kyla Houboult sits, planting foamflowers, and embracing Life in every stanza.'upfromsumdirt, author of Deifying A Total Darkness 'Kyla's poems aren't lengthy but they are, like a Time Lord's Tardis, so much bigger on the inside. This collection has an urgency which is packed with the most startling juxtapositions. The one poem, Fruit, contains the lines, The dancer lifts her leg/high in the air./The dog only lifts his/so far. Two images not many of us would think as an obvious pairing and the impact is thrilling. These poems give you much to reflect upon. They are invitations to a conversation. They leave you with questions. They muse upon how we live in the presence of death, how we live without destroying nature. There is an incisive wit to this writing. In the poem, Bones, the bones of the dead ask to be remembered but then one asks something different, Can you take this arm bone and make a flute please? That's precisely what Kyla has done in this powerful collection.'Beth Brooke, author of A Landscape With Birds

Modest Raptures is the latest poetry chapbook top be published by The Broken Spine. Modest Raptures is from writer Ellie Rees and is the winner of The Broken Spine's inaugural Poetry and Prose Chapbook Competition (2022) which was judged by Alan Parry, Elizabeth Kemball, Jay Raffertry and Ellen Dixon.About the BookThis collection of poetry was edited by Editor in Chief Alan Parry; it is the latest collection of poetry to be published by The Broken Spine.Modest Raptures is a captivating collection of poems that invites you to journey through the seasons, emotions, and observations of everyday life. With lyrical grace, Rees weaves a tapestry of moments, each piece capturing a glimpse of the world's intricate beauty and the subtle mysteries that surround us.From the delicate interplay of light and shadow on wind-bitten primroses to the quiet musings of trees and the enigmatic dance of swallows, these poems capture the essence of the ordinary and transform it into the extraordinary. Through evocative imagery and vivid language, the collection explores the connections between nature, memory, and human experience.About EllieEllie Rees is an award-winning writer who writes across many genres including poetry, creative nonfiction and memoir. Her work is widely published in various journals including: New Welsh Review, Poetry Wales, The Lonely Crowd, Black Bough Poetry and The Broken Spine Artist Collective. Ellie's work appears regularly online for Top Tweet Tuesday and she is a Pushcart Prize nominated poet. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from Swansea University. Ellie's first collection of poetry, Ticking, was published in 2021 by The Hedgehog Poetry Press and her second book, Modest Raptures The Broken Spine's inaugural Chapbook Competition for 2023.Advanced Praise'In Modest Raptures, sparrows squabble, pigeons dance, the leaves change colour and the skies throb with musicality. These poems demand to be digested.'- Mari Ellis Dunning, author of Pearl and Bone'Ellie Rees is a wordsmith of the finest order, conjuring images that stay with you long after the poem has been put aside. There are shades of Wordsworth and Coleridge here, from their Lyrical Ballad days, but whereas they now appear dated and stiff, these stunning poems from Ellie Rees are vivid and alive. I loved the personal touches which take the poems out of the traditional nature verse genre, giving what is seen and heard - and felt - an altogether deeper dimension. A wonderful collection, finely crafted with haunting lines and beautiful word pictures. As Coleridge said 'The best words in the best order.' Book of the year for me.'- Phil Carradice, poet, historian and novelist'Modest Raptures is in part a celebration of the natural world and in part an invitation. Through her Thomas Hardy-like powers of observation, Rees enables us to experience her symbiotic relationship with the countryside and to share its sensory pleasures. She reveals an emotional connection with the environment that in the Twenty-First Century many of us have lost or do not have. Each season evokes a distinctive mood, a personal association, a precious memory. This world, however, is under threat, the cycle of the seasons has become less predictable, less dependable. Now 'daffodils bloom/ before the unassuming snowdrops.' Fields are clapped out. Hedgerows have been destroyed and disorientated birds collide with windows. Fragile nature is in decline and time is running out. The fine, layered and resonant poems in Modest Raptures invite the reader to connect with our natural environment and treasure it before it is too late.'- Nigel Kent, poet and reviewer

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