Shadowlands - Mind, Mood and Memory

Book excerpt: Writing poetry has been a therapeutic process, allowing the author the luxury of analysing life with all its passion and mediocrity, from birth to death and all the in between, of dreams and beyond, including the possibility of an afterlife. War mongers and their victims, innocents sacrificed at the whim of deluded dictators, have dominated this anthology, raging at the decimation of masses in pointless persecution. Not least love and loss are themes so basic they hardly need an explanation, excepting that the written word somehow expands on our deepest, most urgent desires, releasing us from the mundane, allowing a glimpse of a perfect love we aspire to. The fun element in the work will lighten the tone and maybe help readers recognise the same scenarios when trying to live the best life they can. The various themes were mostly written by the author at random in reaction to the media, gossip and a mind in overdrive. Some passages of the book are composed of prose, sometimes inspired by a competition with a set agenda or the reworking of an old tale with a modern interpretation – the author’s labour of love!