​MESSAGES WRITTEN ON ENVELOPE BACKS by Ayelet McKenzie

Ayelet McKenzie has lived in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, for more than 32 years and began writing poetry there. She says:
'I write poetry for (in the words of René Brown), “Creativity is the way I share my soul with the world,” and poetry is my medium. I have always written. It used to be short stories. Now I enjoy writing mostly poetry.'
Ayelet's writing has been published in The London Magazine; Stand; Equinox; Obsessed With Pipework; The New Writer; Poetry International Nottingham; Other Poetry; Assent; Pennine Platform; Understanding Magazine; The Frogmore Papers; Weyfarers; Quantum Leap; Orbis; Dream Catcher; Paragrammers; Sarasvati; and Reach Poetry

Pamphlets by Ayelet McKenzie:
Waiting for an Angel (Selkirk Lapwing Press, 2007) Small Bear (Caterpillar Press, 2017) 
Full Collections:
The Patient is Disappointing (Tidefall Press, 1999); Courting the Asylum (Survivors Press, 2009) . ​

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" With a brevity and impact which call to mind Emily Dickinson, these poems startle us not only with the freshness and originality of their imagery but with the astuteness and the honesty of their perceptions. .”  
Neil Curry

​"This is a collection that everyone should read for it demystifies mental health, getting us to see sufferers as individuals. It looks at their symptoms square in the face and offers an insight into the courage needed to simply get through the day..." 
— Fiona Sinclair, The Lake.

Carla Scanaro reviews "Messages Written on Envelope Backs" in "Write Out Loud" (www.writeoutloud.net)
"'Messages Written on Envelope Backs' opens with a fascinating series of pen portraits of the overlooked people the poet has met. They all have a dreamy unexpected side that strongly delineates their personality and makes them significant:
She smelt of sweat, a faint urine and lilies,
wore old clothes
walked everywhere;
with wild winged eyebrows and knotty hair.
(‘Mabel’)
   [ ...]
In “Messages Written on Envelope Backs”...there is a ruthless ‘reality’ to acknowledge beneath a surreal or dreamy view ‘where dry stone walls/cut into land and section it’ (‘View’). Nevertheless, the poet keeps on ‘hoping you will come and track me down’ ('Lost Love’) in an innocent and human desire to fulfil all expectations and wishes."
                                                                            Carla Scarano,  Dec. 2018

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​ISBN: 978-1-907435-63-8
66 Poems
82 pages
Perfect bound paperback:
​210mm x 150mm
​RRP £8.00

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