Saturday, March 2, 2013

"Stones of My Heart: One Woman's Life Journey" by Kerry Taylor


Stones of My Heart:
One Woman's Life Journey
by Kerry Taylor



Description
In this poetry collection, follow author Kerry Taylor's journey as she survives depression, abuse, stalkers, and bad hair days.
From the author: "Recently, I self-published my first book of poetry called Stones of My Heart: One Woman's Life Journey. It details all the different stages in my life from childhood, to teenager, to motherhood, to a wife and finally to a single mother. What makes it different from most? Everything, I am an average woman, fighting to survive in the world, and I have had too many kickbacks and keep trying to survive. That counts for a lot in my eyes and others'."

Excerpt
Beauty
I wrote this after the birth of my second son. It was a new experience to actually "plan" a child, and I was overwhelmed, by the decision to have him and even more, when he actually arrived I was even more overwhelmed.

The pain
The agony
The push
The pull
The screams
The cries

And then he came
Beauty
In my arms
In my life

At last we meet face to face
At last you are by my side

Those feet that used to push
Those arms that used to punch
That body that used to turn
That back that used to hurt
Right inside of me

No longer inside

Now on the outside

Rubbing my hands against you
Stroking my fingers along you

Poking you
Are you real?
Prodding you
Are you real?
Touching you

Beauty

At last you are here
Here with me

Frightened
After a car accident, I left my job in Crawley to further my education, and return to study my MBA at the University in Birmingham, where I had the awful experience of being stalked, which led to the poems "Frightened" and "In The Night". He used to break into my flat, take my personal belongings, and electrical goods. It took a long time to realise that this issue was not self-inflicted. I felt that I had encouraged him. It took a long time to trust and believe that I could befriend others and not fall victim of my friendliness.

Frightened of life
Frightened of time

Frightened of tomorrow
Frightened of yesterday

Where should we go?
Where did I go?

Too frightened to answer
Too frightened to know

To know what is before us
To know what is behind us

What does it mean?
To know the truth.

What could it mean?
To find out what lies beneath.

Ignorance could be bliss
But it never brings about peace

The peace that conquers
The things that make us frightened.

Review
Kerry Taylor's poetry tells stories with words, and paints an organic metaphor for what it is to be human. Where others paint pictures on canvas she digs deep, into the makeup of what lies underneath our humanness, expressed brilliantly in the raw poetry as she writes in "Decision". Some poetry is nice and flowery, other poetry lovely and sparks emotion, but great poetry does it all and infuses into your cells to haunt you, because you know it has been lived by a life that felt it. Taylor has the gift to relay it on the written page. This beautiful author's poetry is a must read.

About the Author
Kerry Taylor is a single mother of three children, currently living in Madrid. She has been through a lot in her life - from being stalked and abused, to being separated from her estranged husband - all while expressing her life through writing in different forms.

She have released a series of autobiographies in the form of short stories and poetry in the books Stones of My HeartLife's PebblesEmotional Rollercoaster of a Single Mom, and Gravel of Moments.

Kerry has recently written a series of romantic comedies: Blind Dating and Fly, Pray, Love, Money Can't Buy Me Love: Money Can Buy Me Love, and She Said, He Said. She is currently working on the four-part series, Nearly Natal.

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