ON THE EDGE

On August 18, 2023, my sixth book of poetry was released by Austin Macauley, Publishers, London, New York, Cambridge, Sharjah. I greeted the publication of this new collection with both excitement and trepidation. “On the Edge,” is a book of poetry written over a lengthy span of years, chronicling (for better or for worse) the fabric of a life. It expresses in poems what, often, could not be expressed by actions or, the spoken word.
We are all born into a life that, while we may have some control, often takes us where we might not have ever imagined we’d go and sometimes, to places we would never have chosen to go. The road is frequently treacherous, frightening, unnerving. Or, on the brighter side, life may take us to great heights, showing us views of ourselves, those we love, and the world around us, so breathtaking that we are left with a feeling of awe.
“On the Edge” is my truth, my tears, my passion, my purpose and, in a way, my savior. Writing these poems during some of the most painful moments of my life was a sort of healing therapy. It gave me a place to go where I could express the inexpressible and allowed me an insight into my own human frailty. It offered me a place to go where I would not be judged, chastised, or subjected to the scrutiny of others. To be perfectly honest, I never thought I would introduce these poems to each other, in book form. I never thought I would have the courage to send them out into the world, where others might read them, feel them, own them.

My poems, from “Momma’s Living Room”
“…you
had an eye for elegance
the Spanish shawl draped
casually across the Baby Grand
the Wedgewood dish the Dalton mugs
through all
the years I envied you
your ease with dainty thing my fingers
always seemed too big my touch
too rough only my eyes
were ever gentle enough…”

to, “Perpetual Need”
“…you drop like stone I sag
gone limp we lie as still as death
and yet we do not die flies come
in clouds advancing shadows rip
stiff meat in splinters from our bones
coming from our separate pain we know
tomorrow we must rise and run again…”

…are a kind of exhalation of breath, a place to hide, a way to vent my sorrow and my anger and, a place where I could speak the many moods of passion. The poems, in all honesty, are “of the moment,” being written in the throes of some emotion that was too big to be contained. From the loss of my father, then my mother, then my sister, to my children growing and going, to the erotic joy of love, to that dark place where we go when love remains but hurt or rage casts a shadow, poetry was my lifeline, my way to keep my head above water.
I offer you, “On the Edge,” with the hope that one or more of the poems may reach you, touch you, resonate with you, defining the common bonds that exist between all of us who live, who love, who suffer loss and must find a way to go on. It is my hope that as you read the poems you discover that we are all linked by the exhausting challenges of life, by finding ourselves inevitably, “On the Edge.”

Thank you for your support, Susan

“On the Edge” is available to buy directly from Austin Macauley, Amazon Worldwide, The Book Depository, Barnes and Noble as well as most major online retailers.
On the Edge” can be ordered from any bookshop regardless of whether it's stocked in store.

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