Hooked on Poetry Project Announcement
Erin Al-Mehairi
April is National Poetry Month, and for several years now I’ve been featuring and publishing poetry and articles by people as well as the world of poets and poetry.
Firstly, why do I write, love, and feature poetry? Do you think it’s something you can’t enjoy or relate to? Many people find, especially with dark poetry, that they can enjoy the raw emotions and like the references to fairytales, mythology, feminism, spirituality (whatever that means to the person), exploration of life and death, or deep and dark ponderings. I’ve had many people tell me with my own work that they had never read poetry till they took a chance on mine and found it relatable and understandable. I know several other dark poets that has happened for as well. I write poetry and feature it because it’s really the most emotional part of the writing process. It’s the truest and most visceral form of writing scenes and emotional snippets of life. Poetry can say so much with little words. We talk through our writing, share our experiences, and learn and connect to each other.
There are all sorts of styles represented just in dark or horror poetry and often fantasy and science fiction mixes in. However, some of us write other poetry as well: for loved ones, about milestones in life, nature, love.
Seeing me struggle, Gavin at Kendall Reviews kindly stepped up to help me with shares and hosting, so between his site at Kendall Reviews and mine at Hook of a Book, I’m partnering with him to publish part of the poetry project, called HOOKED ON POETRY. I’m so very thankful to him not only for stepping up to help, but his kindness in reaching out to me. You’ll find mostly both horror and dark poetry in this project but some of the other aforementioned as well. You’ll most likely only find the dark poetry on Kendall Reviews though, to keep with his theme. At Hook of a Book, I feature all types of poetry and genres of books. It’s a great partnership.
I would have liked it to have been the entire month of April, but as you know the world has been a fly trapped in a tube lately, meaning things have been chaotic and no matter how hard we flap our wings, it’s hard to get anywhere. I like to beat myself up, but I have decided I will not! I work full-time in various facets of publishing, am seemingly on-call from that work at all hours, am a writer myself, and have a busy household without a pandemic (which isn’t in the best of times always conducive to me getting a lot of writing, reviewing, or volunteer projects done after work), but throw in a pandemic and a world gone mad over it, and some days I’m wondering if I’m just treading water… or knock knock… if my brain is still working properly. I’ve not been well mentally or physically lately either so I’m doing the best I can.
I worked during early April asking poets I know and love for submissions, and also did an open call on Twitter from which I’ve had some submissions sent to me. There is some outstanding work here by both established and award-winning poets and those just getting started. I’m thrilled with the talent that has come my way. I’m excited to publish this poetry and feel that it’s so important poetry still have its voice and time to shine, and so nothing will stop me, even if I must take this throughout part of May. I often already publish poetry for mental health awareness month so I think this will fit in just fine. This is a voluntary project, poetry is awesome anytime, and I’m attempting to not worry over timing. Let’s just celebrate art and those who make it. To those that couldn’t contribute this year, we will miss you and hope to see you back. To new people who are being featured, welcome! To readers, new and old, thanks for joining us.
Starting this week, watch for poetry, reviews of poetry, and articles on poetry to appear on both our sites. I won’t give myself the headache of putting together a schedule to release beforehand, so watch for the posts and learn who is featured via social media. I’m still waiting for a few to turn theirs in as well and I’m cool with people popping up and taking part. A full schedule with links will be posted afterwards on my site – Oh, for the Hook of a Book. You can also view previous years poetry.
“I would define, in brief, the poetry of words as the rhythmical creation of beauty.” – Edgar Allan Poe
Thanks for joining us! Your support of poetry means so much.
Erin Al-Mehairi
I’m the author of Breathe. Breathe., a dark poetry and fiction collection, published by Unnerving 2017, which debuted at #2 on the Amazon best-selling paid charts right behind NYT best-selling author Rupi Kaur’s newest release and in the Amazon paid top five of horror short stories. My poems and stories have been in multiple anthologies and print and e-zines. I am a professional journalist, writer, editor, publicist and marketing and public relations professional, and former podcast co-host, with several bachelor degrees in Journalism, English, and History. I have over twenty years experience in a wide variety of areas in my fields and I own/operate Addison’s Compass Public Relations (ten years) and Hook of a Book Media (eight years). I love books, reading, writing, art, painting, photography, nature, baking, cooking, crafts with kids, yoga, magical stories, fairytales and castles, music, dance, history. In addition to publishing Breathe. Breathe., I also have a story in the anthology Hardened Hearts, called “The Heart of the Orchard.” My story from Breathe. Breathe., “Dandelion Yellow,” has also been re-printed in Project Entertainment Network’s anthology My Favorite Story, right after Brian Keene’s. My poem “Chained by Love,” was featured in the February 2018 issue of Enchanted Conversation: a fairy tale magazine. In the anthology Dark Voices, an all female TOC published in 2018 with proceeds going to breast cancer awareness, I have a poem called “Wrapped in Battle.” In 2018, I also spent time as a co-editor on a Gothic anthology Haunted Are These Houses. So far, 2019 has seen several poems published in The Siren’s Call Magazine, a short story in the print magazine Outpost 28 coming out on Halloween, and a long fiction story with six other author in the anthology 7 Deadly Sins of the Apocalypse which debuted at #1 paid on Amazon best-seller list for horror anthologies when it published at the end of Sept. 2019. I have several books, collections, and poems in various genres in process and hope to get a lot more of my own writing completed within the next year. I run Hook of a Book Media in which I specialize in public relations (PR) and marketing for authors in many forms, as well as work as a writing coach and editor. For three years I was an editor at Sinister Grin Press and performed marketing duties. Currently, I assist Raw Dog Screaming Press with publicity in addition to my Hook of a Book clients and I freelance edit for many authors in various genres. I also have always volunteered in my community and most recently spent the last two years as President of the Board of Directors for a growing mental health center and rape crisis domestic violence haven. I have way too much going on and my head is often in the clouds.
Find out more about Erin and Hooked On Poetry by visiting www.hookofabook.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @ErinAlMehairi
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