Poetry and Prose Round-up: Bright Stars and Bright Futures

I’m writing this on February 2nd, which heartbreakingly is the one year anniversary of the tragic death of Matilda Mae. A healthy baby lost to SIDS at exactly 9 months old. Matilda’s mother Jennie is known widely throughout the blogging and twitter community, and since her daughters death has worked tirelessly to raise both funds and awareness of SIDS and the Lullaby Trust. These last few weeks have seen countless bloggers writing poems, stories and beautiful heartfelt posts, to let Jennie know that Matilda Mae is in their thoughts. It would be impossible to mention them all here, but you can visit and browse a beautiful collection of Letters To Matilda Mae, over at Ghostwriter Mummy. Jennie herself has written many moving poems to Matilda Mae and her blog Edspire continues to be a moving and inspiring read.

With spring increasingly on our minds but not quite here yet, Beautiful Misbehaviour hosted the fourth Virtual Live Mic Night, with an open theme of Winter Of Good Cheer. I’d encourage any of our writers of poetry and prose to join in and have a go at reading their work aloud – it really is great fun and truly adds another dimension to the written word.

Prose For Thought via Verily Victoria Vocalises has been busier than ever. Its great to see so many writers pushing themselves out of their blog comfort zone to try poetry and creative prose. It’s also wonderful to see Older Mum In A Muddle due to realise her collection of poetry and prose ‘Seasons Of Motherhood’. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Sarah to illustrate this beautiful anthology and I can promise that it is a truly special collection of writing. The official realise will be in March but you can already pre-order and read all about it here.

Huge congratulations also to Stephanie of Beautiful Misbehaviour who has just had the exciting news that one of her poems has been selected to be published by The Emma Press in their forthcoming Motherhood Anthology. The Emma Press received a huge number of submissions for this collection and it’s a true reflection on the standard of Stephanie’s writing that she has been selected. It’s also a fabulous kick start to her Year Of Submissions, where she has pledged to submit a piece of writing for publication – somewhere – at least once a week. Anyone looking to have their work published should read her Poetry Submission Opportunities for invaluable info and tips on who is publishing and when.

I was delighted over on my own blog to have a beautiful ‘Letters From Another Life’ guest post from White Feathers And So Much More. If you don’t spare a few moments to read The Decision – you are missing out. Equally brilliant is Instinctive Mum’s For The Body I Had I Will Not Weep – a strong and welcome celebration of the physical changes that motherhood inevitably brings.

Missing by Supper And Syntax is a bleak, brilliant and very moving illustration of grief, whilst Baby Love by Writing Bubble is a gorgeous, poignant celebration of infancy and the bittersweet fleeting nature of this time

Verily Victoria Vocalises captured the energy, spirit and slight craziness of the Team Honk relay in Go Team Honk, whilst My Beautiful Three remembered her Nanna in the simply lovely A Poem For My Nanna. Lovely2cu continued to make me laugh on a regular basis, but his poem Skinned Alive is a brief and honest glimpse of a raw wound. And no David – don’t delete it!

And Baby Makes Three set sail a heartfelt Message In A Bottle, whilst Shaking Away The Cobwebs gave us a brief escape from reality in Home At Last. I embarked on another fictional storytelling journey with Ellis Hall, while Lisa’s Life reminded us of the power of music to tug on heartstrings and transport us straight back into the past – with her rhythmical piece Play.

I’ll leave you with that reading list and wish you all a bright February. By the time Victoria is with us in March spring will well and truly be on it’s way!

About Helen Braid

Helen is a graphic designer who is lucky to live on the beautiful Scottish West Coast with her husband and their 2 young children. Since launching her blog All At Sea, Helen has focused on developing her poetry and prose. She is inspired by all things coastal and has a 5 year plan to relocate to the beach. Helen writes about family life and is author of blog series ‘Stories Of The Sea’, which is a whimsical collection of nautical tales. She has a quiet belief in angels and tries, whenever possible, to recognise beauty in the stuff of everyday.