Black Prayers

‘My original thought when writing this book was as a paean to the church – the Black Church – that had sustained me throughout my childhood and boyhood. I wanted to say thank you for all the joy, strength, hope and faith it had given me.
‘I also wanted to celebrate the wider voices of the black diaspora that have added an essence of wisdom to my youth and adulthood: I would not be the person I am today without these voices and influences.
‘I have learned that silence is blessing if you seek the truth, but there comes a time to sing of the truths – so I have now chosen to sing.
‘God works and is manifest through the flesh of people. If we listen to the God Voice within, we can hear the genetically coded source of holy science throughout our brief sojourn on this planet. Read, enjoy, and if it is your wont – get annoyed!
‘All I desire is that these poems move you.’
Elijah Karriem

Bizarre Poetic World of Malcolm Tilsed

Malcolm with his familiar infectious enthusiasm would like YOU to enjoy his inspirational assured debut collection work. Each poem is unique and well-written with a charismatic and often humorous writing style. You will find the collection innovative and fresh, and the intensity of the verses will captivate you. Many were written and are set during the national COVID-19 lockdowns which offer a poignant and thoughtful voice to the silent many who suffered the isolation worse than most, owing to having underlying health conditions, which will have a contemporary appeal. Malcolm is already working on his next publication.

Birds: Sketches from Birding

Birds often symbolize spiritual freedom. The universe for them is vast and without end. Free from attachments and from all earthly treasures, they listen to Mother Nature. Never tired, from far and near, they are wild in spirit and move between the worlds: between earth, air, and water.

Birds are the symphony and poetry of nature on the earth and live with an elegant simplicity tinged with a pure loneliness with worldly cares left behind. The world for them is an open book and every object seen unlocks a new faculty for the mind.

Bird Wisdom

The fundamental themes of landscape, love and loss are all celebrated in this collection. Some of the poems have a political quality, reflecting the challenges and uncertainties of life in the 21st century; others simply honour the joy, the struggles, and the hopefulness of daily life.

The poems encompass a wide genre, but all reflect a connection between people and place. Many celebrate the poet’s ‘home paddock’ while others look to the wider world. Though the inspiration is landscapes familiar to the author, the themes are universal and resonant.

Beyond the Moon

Beyond the Moon is an intimate collection of poetry about enormous stigma, Otherness and marginality, detailing with my personal experiences as a young woman living on the cusp of two very different worlds. As a young girl growing up in the United Kingdom, I was continuously made aware of my ethnic differences. The conventional Western education made no allusion to the Mauritian Muslim; I found no commonplace, no companionship with another in this world, no one like me.

Even I deceived myself with the expectation to normalise and acclimatise to the Barbie doll model. I was taught that I was not beautiful because I did not resemble this traditional model. Thus, this collection of poetry materialises and communicates such experiences, exploring the ‘dark side of the moon’.

Ballads of Loss and Woe

Every ascent is met with a descent. After reaching the pinnacle, basking in achievements and joy, an unforeseen force can bring it all crashing down. Life’s unpredictable blows can dismantle our realities, leaving behind a trail of questions and broken dreams.

As the facade of life dissipates, pillars once deemed steadfast vanish, and we’re left grappling with the remnants. The author revisits the starting point, navigating a world shaped by revelations, torn between passion and profound pain.

In his signature surreal narrative style, he paints a vivid picture of his transformed reality: a tumultuous terrain of emotion. This collection delves deep into themes of grief, betrayal, and existential sorrow. When life thrusts you into an unfamiliar realm, do you question if it’s all just a grand illusion?

From melancholic poems and heart-wrenching tales to soulful songs, this is a journey through the darkest corridors of a wounded heart. These are the words from the depths of despair, a testament to the fragile human spirit.

Assorted Musings

If you enjoy a varied reading covering a variety of topics, some contemporary and some older, then this could well appeal to you. It is far removed from traditional romantic poetry. Nevertheless, it provides thought provoking material. There is something for everyone in this eclectic potpourri of reflective musings. Enjoy it at your leisure!

As I Rhymember It!

This little volume of poems and short stories is an absolute gem. It is the first time these writers have cooperated on a work published in the UK; they are already both published in Europe.

The mix of verse and stories makes it easy for the reader to pause and reflect, when required. The theme is “relationships” remembered and “Rhymembered” with plenty of poetic licence. Relationships in all their forms, noble, spiritual, sensual, and sexual. The wanting, the chasing, the capture, the high-octane climaxes, and all that follows. Sadly, sometimes abject failure and painful defeat.

All human emotion is here, raw, and unexpurgated. The twist is the way the authors decide to treat their subject. Doom and gloom play no part in this work. It’s light, wry, and lively throughout. As I Rhymember It! uses wit to smooth and sooth the many emotional extremes.

But this is no bedroom expose. The “action” takes place in a variety of settings as diverse as, a golf club AGM, a travelling Victorian circus big top, a suburban restaurant, and a European shopping Mall.

For an ever-changing backdrop, to the ever-changing world of human relationships, look no further than, As I Rhymember It! by Finbar Hanaghan, from the original ideas of Barry Thomas Harris.

Anthology Volume V At the Merest Whisper of Your Gentle Voice, I Find Myself With Child...

The Broken-hearted

How much love can one take with a broken heart?
How much love can one give with a broken heart?
How much love can one give to those we love with a broken heart?
How much love can be given by those that love us with a broken heart?
How much love can be taken and not returned with a broken heart?
How much love can be given and not returned with a broken heart?
What price a broken heart?
Where will the pain and the loneliness of the broken-hearted end?
But, all hope is not lost, for love a broken heart can mend,
For love is to the broken heart, the first, foremost and finest friend.

Another Day's Journey

We all go through journeys in our lives and often feel that we are on this journey alone. It is nice to know that the everyday ups and downs are the experiences that can make us or break us.
When we walk in someone else’s shoes for a bit we can sympathize, laugh, cry, agree or disagree and at that point know that we are not alone in this life’s journey. We keep going, we keep living, and we keep experiencing the journeys in our lives that make us who we aspire to be, who we want to be and who we are.
Look at your life and the journeys you are going through and think of all the roads to come, then realize that your past experiences are the things that motivate your future journeys. Love, peace, joy, and happiness are journeys that we should have every day. But we do not!
Walk with me through a couple of journeys in my life.

And Then I Met You

Eventually, we find someone Or maybe they find us… Who has no desire to change us For they love us exactly as we are Who has no desire to control us For they know that love is freedom Who has no desire to belittle us For they yearn to see us grow Somebody who communicates Only through the vibration of love Somebody who creates a safe space For us to knock down our walls And somebody whose only desire for us Is that we follow our bliss In this sanctuary of love… There is no drama No criticism No jealousy No manipulation No attack No neediness Only love Acceptance And freedom When we find this somebody… Or maybe they find us We finally understand… Why we had to go through all the pain.

An Enquiry into the Delight of Existence and the Sublime

In his debut collection of poetry, H. K. G. Lowery explores a journey incorporating all the natural anxieties and pains of living, leading to an understanding of real forgiveness and redemption.

From the first poem of the collection, An Ode to Father John Misty, he sets the scene touching on societal issues such as racism, homophobia, religion, addiction and consumerism. The darkness of such issues, as well as other emotional issues, are given light gradually when he journeys into the positive attributes of forgiveness, hope in the God, the wonderment of nature, self-acceptance and salvation. The collection begins to rotate towards the Sublime with A Requiem for St. Francis which holds a strong personal resonance from the time he visited Assisi in Italy.

Each poem commences with an epigraph which summarises each individual poem. The final poem sees all twelve epigraphs combine into a conclusion of the collection which results in a cathartic outpouring where the delight of existence is realised.

An Enquiry into the Delight of Existence and the Sublime is a personal journey, a rise from darkness to light, from despair to hope.