Our Father Eclipse - politics and dystopia

Our Father Eclipse is, by far, the strangest thing I've ever written. Towards the latter end of 2019, I'd conceived of the idea of writing something vaguely political, framed by the apocalyptic literature I'd studied in my twenties, and taking in signs and portents and political events. I'd mulled this idea around for some time, and put together a couple of poems...and then 2020, Covid and lockdown happened.

My previous poetry collection, Blood and Water, was written over a period of about a decade, each poem being carefully added and edited. The birth of this collection was completely different. Over a period of about two weeks, the poems wrote themselves, obsessively, frantically, as if all of the pain and confusion of the past few years came spilling out like a fever dream. As soon as I had the poems completed, with minimal editing, I sent them to Culture Matters, my favourite publisher. I sent the email at 6pm. By 9am the next morning, I had a message in my in-tray saying 'yes please, we'd love to publish'. This NEVER happens! 

I chose to illustrate the poems with 16th century apocalyptic woodcuts, which seemed to fit the themes. The result is a strangely dystopian vision of a world which feels increasingly unreal and disturbing - and a call to action. In difficult times, we can dare to hope, we can dare to dream, with radical passion and revolutionary compassion...

Here's the review from The Morning Star's Andy Croft: 

 https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/c/21st-century-poetry-andy-croft-0

"Our Father Eclipse (£10) by the Welsh poet Rebecca Lowe is a brilliant, inventive and original take on contemporary feelings of impending apocalypse, constructed around the image of a solar eclipse – “We dare not gaze directly / for fear of blindness, / but know instinctively / the gathering dark.”

Wide-ranging and eloquent, these poems barely contain their rage at the way we treat our neighbours and our planet in the 21st century."

 

IT'S HERE!!!

Available on Amazon, priced £9.99 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Write-Mindfully-Unlocking-writer-within/dp/B0D67BBR5R/ref=asc_df_B0D67BBR5R?tag=bingshoppinga-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80676856953959&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584276322642351&psc=1

Write Mindfully – Unlocking the writer within by Rebecca Lowe 

Published by Talisman Arts, July 2024.

ISBN: 9798326906267

CONTACT: Rebecca Lowe on 07866 871116 or email swanmedia@ntlworld.com to arrange interviews or order review copies.

‘Each of us has a beautiful story to tell’

Do you long to create but find yourself held back by feelings of inadequacy or fear of judgement? If so, you’re not alone, but it’s never too late to start writing!

I want to help you find and listen to your inner voice – your Soul voice, if you like. Once you do that, you’ll find that writing comes easily to you – as naturally as breathing.

Topics covered include:

·         Mindfulness and creativity

·         Dealing with imposter syndrome

·         What makes a person creative?

·         How to handle rejection

·         Embracing playfulness and imagination

·         Finding your creative flow

·         Writing using all your senses

·         Creating a writing ritual

And much more!

Never let anybody tell you that you are not good enough. You are more than enough. You are beautiful, precious, unique. Nobody can tell your story better than you.

So write it, Sing it,

Dance it,

Shout it,

Be it!

Author bio:

Rebecca Lowe is a Pushcart prize-nominated poet, mother, journalist and editor, based in Swansea, Wales, UK. She has three published collections of poetry: Blood and Water (The Seventh Quarry, 2020), Our Father Eclipse (Culture Matters, 2021) and Grandmasaurus: Poems for children (Talisman Arts, 2021) and has appeared in anthologies in the UK and internationally. She is a Bread and Roses Spo0ken Word Award winner (2020) and her poetry has been translated into Welsh, Greek, Romanian and Chinese. She runs Spoken Word open mics and poetry and storytelling workshops for all ages. When not writing, she enjoys climbing trees with her daughter, singing, playing the hammer dulcimer, painting, Mindfulness and walking in the beautiful Welsh countryside.