Category: Chapbooks

What Lasts Beyond the Burning
by A. A. Parr

Publication Date: 15 December 2020
Nightingale & Sparrow Press

Genre: Poetry

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About the Author

A. A. Parr is a writer, artist, and entrepreneur who calls both Sault Ste. Marie and Toronto home. She holds a Specialised Honours BFA from York University in Theatre (Devised Ensemble Creation; Playwriting) with a double minor in Psychology and Cultural Studies. She is also the Founder and Managing Editor of Type A Media, publishing fresh, diverse perspectives in arts and culture from Northern Ontario and beyond. Most notably in this role, she edited and contributed to the anthology Isolated Together: Northern Ontario perspectives of life in a global pandemic.

Her ongoing poetry series written for and about strangers, “I Wrote You This Poem”, is published on Channillo.com. Her creative works have been seen on stages, in galleries, and in print throughout North America over the past two decades. In her work, she seeks to explore difficult themes in an attempt to shine a necessary light into our darkest crevices. Her most cherished role, of course, is raising two beautifully inquisitive little artists of her own.

For more information on A. A. Parr’s creative works, please visit her website at www.aaparr.wixsite.com/ourghosts

All the Shades of Grief
by Ellora Sutton

Publication Date: 8 September 2020
Nightingale & Sparrow Press

Genre: Poetry

Borrowing from nature, art, mythology, and personal memory, All the Shades of Grief represents an attempt to articulate the universal language of loss. From the death of a loved one to watching flying ants dying on the pavement, each poem in this chapbook seeks to confront grief and force it into the light as something we must all experience and exorcise.

Some of the poems refer directly to the personally seismic event of the death of the poet’s mother, such as an honest rehashing of ‘The Five Stages of Grief’. Others deal with grief and loss in a more ‘everyday’ way, trying to encompass all the myriad shapes (or ‘shades’) of grief that we go through, the kind that can creep up and breathe down your neck with no warning whatsoever, the reverberations that never quite go away. Poems such as ‘Apollo and Hyacinth’ and the first-place prize-winning ‘Daphne’ translate death and loss from ancient mythology to modern-day relevance. This book doesn’t seek to tell you that everything will be alright, that the pain will go away – rather, it wants to hold your hand and feel it all right beside you, to whisper in your ear that you are not alone.

All the Shades of Grief is part coping-mechanism, part moonlit-wondering, and a whole heart, trying to heal itself.

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Zoom Launch

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From Ellora: “Please join me for an evening of poetry readings to christen my debut chapbook, All the Shades of Grief. There will be readings from poets Jack Cooper, Nadia Lines, and Kevin Kissane, as well as readings from All the Shades of Grief. I am so excited to share my first book with you all. Come and enjoy an evening of free poetry!”

Tickets available here

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Previously Published Pieces:

Take a sneak peek at some of the poems included in this chapbook: 

• ‘Wade’, in the inaugural issue of Eye Flash Poetry Journal, and on their website
• ‘Grief’, in the anthology DUST, from Eye Flash
• ‘Orbuculum’, online in The Cardiff Review 
• ‘Ghazal for a Black Cat’, online in Blue Marble Review
• ‘Coven / Transfiguration’ and ‘I Became the Wolf’, in the inaugural issue of Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal
• ‘Daphne’, online as the first-place winner of the Young Poets Network Carol Ann Duffy
  challenge
• ‘lunacy’, online as a commended poem in the Young Poets Network Moon challenge

About the Author

Ellora Sutton is a Creative Writing MA student living and working in Hampshire, England. Her work has previously been published in Nightingale & Sparrow, The Cardiff Review, Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal, The Hellebore, Poetry News, Honey & Lime, and Eye Flash Poetry Journal, among others. She has been commended in the Winchester Poetry Prize and has been a winner of several Young Poets Network challenges. Her favourite things to write about include badass women, art, nature, and death. She only feels like herself when she’s writing.

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you were supposed to be a friend
by Ashley Elizabeth

Publication Date: 16 June 2020
Nightingale & Sparrow Press

Genre: Poetry

Friendships between men and women don’t always last forever… not without someone wanting more. At least, it’s harder not to. It is easy to fall for someone you spend most of your time talking to. This chapbook explores when a relationship turns from friendship to friends with benefits to someone falling in a love that may not be reciprocated.

Ten years is a long time to intertwine two souls. From middle school to early adulthood, we survived a lot. For having such searing physical and emotional chemistries, our communication skipped heartbeats with lies and potholes. We’ve been friends for too long. Of course feelings got in the way. Of course I fell for you, and of course I lied about it. Who wouldn’t? I lost you anyway.

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Previously Published Pieces:

Take a sneak peek at some of the poems included in this chapbook:

• “friendship,” “acceptance,” and “6 inch heels” — Rat’s Ass Review
• “not prayer” — Zoetic Press
• “lies about being a mistress,” “truth,” “also truth,” “letters from an old mistress (i)” “non-reciprocal” — Damaged Goods Press

About the Author

Ashley Elizabeth is a writing consultant, teacher, and poet. Her works have appeared in Bonnie’s Crew, yell/shout/scream, and SWWIM, among others. She has a microchap, letters from an old mistress, with Damaged Goods Press. When Ashley isn’t serving as assistant editor at Sundress Publications, teaching, or freelancing, she habitually posts on Twitter and Instagram, watching way too many dog and cheese-pull videos. She lives with her partner in Baltimore, MD.

Dichotomy
by Mikhayla Robinson

Publication Date: 24 March 2020
Nightingale & Sparrow Press

Genre: Poetry

Dichotomy is a poetic recollection of my memories, favorite, moments, thoughts, and queries as young Black woman. They are about confidence, hurt, pain, sorrow, relationships, and surround every aspect of my life. As a marginalized individual, I grew up reading books that painted Black women as the side characters, or static individuals who had no substance. We were just playing supporting roles to the system around us. In Dichotomy, I deconstruct the notion that we are not allowed to dream, to want, to desire, to contest wrongdoings, and to express our feelings of hurt and pain.

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About the Author

Mikhayla Robinson is a nineteen-year-old Augusta, Georgia native. She was born to her parents Janet and Vincent Robinson, and has two siblings: Sara and Olivia Robinson. Mikhayla has been writing for all of her life. She attends The University of Georgia, where she studies Journalism and Mass Communications, and plans on minoring in art. Mikhayla loves to write poetry, short stories, and prose. She also plays the piano, cello, and the guitar. Additionally, she is an advocate for Black mental health, an activist, and part of the Black Lives Matter Movement. Dichotomy is Mikhayla’s first published book of poetry.

Cemetery Music
by Birdy Odell

Publication Date: 10 December 2019
Nightingale & Sparrow Press

Genre: Mixed Media

In Cemetery Music, the conflicting feelings we have around death and dying are explored in a collection of vignettes created by pairing found words, that are markedly melancholy, with artwork that is lighthearted, hopeful, and poignant.

The poems themselves invoke an emotional response using very few words. There is sadness in death. It is a universal reaction.  Using words that have been discarded highlights our fear of loss. Memories are often all we have left.  Happy memories are still tinged with sorrow. And yet, somehow, we carry on.

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Author Statement

Review

Author Interview

Excerpt

About the Author

Birdy Odell is a Canadian artist and writer whose work highlights themes of death, loss, and the difficulties of childhood. Her work has appeared in various literary magazines and has been described as “haunting, melancholy and nostalgic.” She prefers books to people and is currently at work on a new collection.

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