HORIZON & BACK

Poetry Collection | Writer | UK | 2005

This is Heather Taylor's first full collection published in 2005, following the publication of her chapbook “She Never Talks of Strangers” in 2003. Her poetry is darkly comic, moving and unashamedly honest, drawing inspiration from her home, travel and news headlines. This collection marks the development of her poetry to a tighter, more reflective style, yet it still retains an engaging and amusing display of awkward emotions in images, words and phrases honed through her regular spoken-word performances.

Excerpt from the collection:

AWAY

There are layers between us
the sheets
the walls
the streets
the city
the phone.

Your voice crackles over time zones
sending kisses through fibre optics
to caress my ear.

‘I love you.’
I say those words
in my vacant apartment
neat as you last left it,
red wine grown murky
in the bottom of glasses,
your head printed on my pillow,
a razor forgotten by the sink,
a photograph empty of you.

My last memory seems to end
with waving though terminal gates
or plodding down long hallways
greeted by chirpy blonde attendants
& safety procedures.

Can that be enough
in this world of ours
in those moments between
weekends & phone bills?

Can that be enough,
bodies separating us,
water choppy under airplane wings
in the sky turning blue grey

There are layers between us
the sheets
the walls
the streets
the city
the phone.

But I still have you.