Books
(m)othersongs – V. Press, 2023
Once again published by one-woman indie powerhouse, V. Press, (m)othersongs uses natural-world imagery and ecological fragility – from meteorology to the moon, and from flora to fauna – to explore aspects of non-motherhood, unwellness and the (ageing) female body). The pamphlet was positively received and widely reviewed, with inclusion in the Poetry Book Society’s Bulletin. (m)othersongs was generously endorsed by Wendy Pratt and Polly Atkin, as follows:
“(m)othersongs is a moving, visceral exploration of the othering nature of un-motherhood. Body-shame, medical misogyny and grief are exorcised in shape-shifting forms with veins of pain running through them, in which everything from cloud formations to sea gooseberries on a shoreline speak of the changing seasons of the human body. This is a world where ‘wooden babies’ and rag dolls are born in place of children, and the womb – a ‘special bedroom’ haunted by endometriosis, fibroids and myths of creation – is surrendered with the mantra – ‘it’s only a pocket, and one you’re not using’. Both heartbreaking and strangely transporting, these are powerful and necessary poems.” – Polly Atkin
“(m)othersongs is one of those rare examples of a collection of poetry that is both moving in content and accomplished in form. Each poem is expertly crafted, with a skilled use of structured form alongside beautifully crafted free verse. This textured and vibrant collection does not hold back, it faces the pain of endometriosis and infertility and holds that pain up to the light as valid experience of womanhood. The poetry world is enriched by this collection, and I shall return to it.” – Wendy Pratt
More information can be found at the V. Press website, here:
https://vpresspoetry.blogspot.com/p/mothersongs.html
Something so wild and new in this feeling – V. Press, 2021
This pamphlet emerged from my post-graduate research at Birmingham City University, and consists of textual collage poems that I created from extracts of Dorothy Wordsworth’s Journals. Published with great care and craft by Sarah James’ West Midlands indie press, V. Press, Something so wild and new... was positively received and widely reviewed, going to a third print run and eventually selling out. The book carried generous endorsements from Gregory Leadbetter and Carrie Etter, as follows:
“In these inventive and adventurous collage poems, Sarah Doyle presents Dorothy Wordsworth’s exuberant feeling for life and language in a fresh fabric of her own making. Sympathetic and insightful, tactful, and imaginative, Doyle’s compositions refract the energies of Dorothy’s writings through the subtle medium of her own sensibility, and the result is at once daring and illuminating.” – Gregory Leadbetter
“In Something so wild and new in this feeling, Sarah Doyle has taken Dorothy Wordsworth’s journals and developed excerpts into poems, finding felicities of phrasing, musicality, and ideas. Doyle’s skills in pacing, use of the line, and the possibilities of form help us appreciate anew Wordsworth’s habits of thought and close attention to the natural world. With Wordsworth and Doyle, the reader hears the birds singing in the mist.” – Carrie Etter
More information can be found at this link, and I still have a few personal copies remaining, if anyone would like to purchase one:
https://vpresspoetry.blogspot.com/p/something-so-wild-and-new-in-this.html
Humanagerie (as co-editor) – Eibonvale Publishing, 2018
Co-edited with Allen Ashley, Humanagerie is a vivid exploration of the nebulous intersection of human and beast. From cities to wilderness, buildings to burrows, and coastlines to fish-tanks, thirty-two poems and thirteen short stories explore emergence and existence, survival and self-mythology, and the liminal hinterland between humanity and animality. This elegant anthology was published by Eibonvale Press, a British Fantasy Award-shortlisted indie press run by David Rix, with the book itself being shortlisted for a BFA in 2019. More here:
https://www.eibonvalepress.co.uk/books/books_humanagerie.htm
Dreaming Spheres: Poems of the Solar System – PS Publishing, 2014
A sequence of poems written in collaboration with Allen Ashley, Dreaming Spheres incorporates science fiction speculation, astronomy, fantastical extrapolation and mythology to take the reader on a voyage of discovery from the Sun at the centre of our great gyratory system all the way out to Pluto and beyond. Published in 2014 by World Fantasy Award-winning PS Publishing UK, this beautifully produced hardback is now out of print, but copies can still be found at various online bookstores.