Full disclosure. I am a great admirer of Dean Stalham. As an artist. As a poet. And as an activist and campaigner. His continuing support of “Outsider Art” and own creative outputs since leaving prison have been phenomenal. His unique quality of seeing the artist in everyone has meant he is a man that gets things done and he takes a lot of folk with him on that ride.
This publication is a testament to this drive and his core belief that arts can give everyone a voice .
I was not surprised therefore that this impressive anthology includes poets from all over the world like Benjamin Zephaniah (UK ) Michael Graves (USA – NYC), Agnes Marton (Hungary), Dariusz Tomaz Lebioda (Poland), Yuyutsu Sharma (Himalayas) and from all backgrounds including those making their poetry debut, poets that normally only perform their words, award winning writers, those living with disabilities, living with homeless issues and those who have experience of the justice system.
I am a writer with only a handful of poems under my belt and for me the wordsmiths who work in the world of poetry are the bravest of us. You cannot cheat as a poet. Your every fibre is exposed. And this is an important collection of work from an astounding array of voices. To quote from the foreword by Carlotta Allum from the charity STRETCH
“Dean had a vision for a collection of work that was not about the poets or the egos of particular artists, but about honest, raw responses to a mental health crisis.”
There are so many brilliant pieces here from over 60 poets illustrating the searing pain of suicide from many perspectives.
From the Martin Head poem What Could I Have Done?
“And when and if I’ve had enough of all this shit
Please remember
There is nothing that you could have done”.
From the Karen Corinne Herceg poem Down From The Ledge
“boldly tearing at the numbness of its own prescence
against the abysmal paralysis of the unrealized
opposing the assassination of our worth.”
From the Sadie Maskery poem No one can tell you
“Emptiness is the wrong word,
I can’t find them now, the right words,
to explain the howl”
And I quote the entire poem which caught me at my throat and my heart and which I can still taste.
Ways Of Survival by Gerard Beirne
Forehead to the night
Silver moon of steel
Tongue to the air
Vials of beaded shell
Neck to the shore
Braided weaves of hemp
Throat to the light
Filament and wire
Wrist to the horizon
Blade of sea and sky
Stomach to the birds
Shrieks of sharpened beaks
Body to the water
Sinking stones of air
Dusk to the dawn
Hope from despair
Globally one person every 40 seconds commits suicide. To echo Carlotta Allum again, this anthology should be held in every student library and I urge you to buy, read and share this important work.
LIL WARREN
The book is available on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/8195191517?ref=myi_title_dp&fbclid=IwAR3SoeULsZL6CVPWFqRo70pW_7HBlzMrq1lIGFZ1MSqR9y8zVrcNn27uXNQ
There is a launch of SOS – Surviving Suicide at The Margate School on 9th September https://www.themargateschool.com/events/sos-surviving-suicide-a-collection-of-poems-that-may-save-a-life-1
Unity Arts London 