Review of 2024: Part One

2024 has been a busy and very productive year for Wheelsong Books and Invisible Poets. Here is the first of three parts of a comprehensive review of our achievements and successes over the year.

January 

The goal Wheelsong Books set itself as a publisher in 2024 was to publish one book each month. The first book off the Wheelsong press in 2024 was a collection of my own poetry from 2020-2023, titled All the Best (this is usually how I sign off an email). 

The poems in the collection were drawn from a number of previously published books including RITE, Shocks & Stares, My Little Eye and Nocturne. It contains poems such as Yasmina, I Ordered an Uber and a Hearse Showed up Instead, and many more.

What may have baffled some readers is the section headings which were all named in Latin or Greek. That's just me having a little fun with language!

February

As an online poetry community, Invisible Poets celebrated its first birthday in February 2024, a milestone commemorated by the publication of Invisible Poets Anthology 1. IPA1 is a collection of premier poetry all of which has featured in Live Poets Society shows. The best of the best poetry featured in the book, which is still on sale today to raise money for Save the Children. In total, the book featured more than 350 poems and at just over 300 pages, is the largest volume Wheelsong has published to date.

The cover art is a split image of artistic graffiti I found in a motorway underpass just a half mile away from my house. My daughter Amy Wheeler took the image, which features me in a green hoodie. The separated image of the hooded poet has since become the icon for Invisible Poets, and now features on our charity T-shirts (of which more later). 

March

As the first signs of Spring began to appear, we were working on the final touches of a wonderful collection by American poet David Catterton Grantz. Previously an educator, Dave's poetry has an ethereal lyrical quality that has to be experienced to be believed. Shadows into Light really showcases his unique talent as a poet, and although it may have been the first Wheelsong publication, it was in fact his fifth published collection. 

His work is summed up nicely by Ellis Ralph, wordsmith and singer-songwriter: 

Grantz is an expected surprise, a familiar novelty, dependably unpredictable in form and content, style and mood ever shifting his ideas, and yours. Strap in and ride shotgun in whatever vehicle he’s driving, to wherever it goes. He knows the way.

April

The Wheelsong Poetry Anthology is becoming a regular twice-a-year event, with contributions drawn from five or more large poetry groups across the online network. Wheelsong Poetry Anthology 4 was edited by me, ably assisted by Donna Smith and Matt Elmore, and what a difficult job we had! We received more than 500 submissions in just 3 weeks, and systematically waded through each, to select the very best of the best. I think the editorial team managed to do a very good job, as the collection clearly indicates. It's a great book, well worth a read, and hopefully it will become a classic in time. 

The beautiful image was donated by David Catterton Grantz to grace the front cover of our flagship publication. All proceeds are donated to our favourite charity, Save the Children and every sale raises enough to feed a malnourished child for almost a month. 

Continue reading the review of 2024 in these posts:

Review of 2024: Part Two (May-August)

Review of 2024: Part Three (September-December)

Steve Wheeler

Anthology 4

Do you want some good news? Wheelsong Poetry Anthology 4 is now published, and at the time of writing, it is selling quickly across the globe, in all continents. It's already available in softcover (paperback) and hardcover editions and the Kindle e-book version will be with us soon. 

The book contains poems written by 127 members of our Wheelsong family of groups (Invisible Poets, Wheelsong Poetry, Safe Haven and Pure Poetry). The editors reviewed and selected from more than 500 submissions, and selected around 250 poems for the final publication. The process was managed as fairly as possible, where each submission was anonymised in what is known as a double blind peer review (similar to the process used by academic publishers). 

It has, as ever, been a mammoth task to put together a book of this quality. The cover art was designed around a stunning photograph by poet David Catterton Grantz (the church is on Lake Bled in the central European country of Slovenia). There is a wonderful quote inside the first few pages by the former UK Poet Loreate Carol-Ann Duffy. 

Every purchase (whether from Wheelsong Books directly, or via Amazon sites worldwide) will raise £3.00 ($4.00) for a great cause - Save the Children worldwide relief fund. Other worldwide outlets such as Barnes and Noble (USA), Wantitall (South Africa) and Waterstones (UK) will also stock the softcover edition in their online stores.

So, please do get behind this mission of war on poverty by purchasing, promoting, sharing and otherwise helping us to sell as many copies of this splendid book as we can! 

Poetry against poverty!

Steve Wheeler

P.S. All previous Wheelsong Poetry Anthologies are still available to purchase!

Review Of Shadows Into Light

I was fortunate enough to be able to talk with David Catterton Grantz on the phone before receiving his most recent book, Shadows Into Light. My impression of him as a retired teacher, avid hiker, world traveler and genuine human being reverberated with every poem once I opened the first pages.

From “The Me In You”…

“And I am you, if you could see

The rocks, the streams, the waves;

The clouds that flow and float within,

But you just peer from your dim caves

And toil away your lives, my slaves.” 

David’s ability to filter reality down into a refined essence is evident within his many themes. Poems about dealing with age, translations of purpose from the cosmos, family relations, love sweet love, artificial intelligence, political and religious hypocrisy, and even reflections on writing poetry dazzle throughout. His verses pull no punches. 

He tackles growing older “Says I’ll gladly die if if didn’t hurt; I’d wear deaths tie, I’d iron his shirt; I’d wrestle pigs down into his sty, But pains gonna find you by and by.” (Pains Gonna Find You By And By). On climate change he writes “…for we were made to seek and climb. Into the trees, not whither on the vine.” (Resolved). 

A boy goes to the library to verify some subversive things his Granda told him about religion and life itself in “Things That Grandpa Told”. “AI AI OH!” suggests an artificial intelligence we build that could “initiate the final solution” and destroy humanity.

As a writer, David’s ability to change up the flows of his works captivate the reader. This is a book to learn from. By switching his end rhymes and adding extra lines to extend cadence and emphasize messages, David approaches master levels. 

In “The Seeker” he writes 

“Oh my love we travelled all this way, 

Alone together for a day, 

Seen from just the sand and clay; 

I cannot answer, I can’t comprehend 

What cannot be seen.

Above me hangs the ancient moss,

The measure of the life that I’ve lost,

The life once taut in crystal glints,

Flown on wings of recompense.”

His penchant for appropriating colorful and humorous phrases pepper the book throughout, comparing poets writing poems as “like bees making honey, their purpose resolved”. A line in “Rhyme Of The Ancient Terrier” got me laughing as a poet myself when he wrote “I can’t help wondering as I peruse his stuff, what pith omitted as he sloughs his fluff”.

The experiences of David’s travels are reflected in a number of poems. He interprets the changing landscapes… often only known by those hiking with rucksack resolve, far beyond the convenient approach of roads.

A passage from “Awakening” reads:

“I’m not accustomed to this side of the mountain… but now I plunk the quavering mirror, rippling it into concentric ovals from the matrix below, from whence we come, and hence I go.” 

The takeaway from Shadows Into Light is a restitution of the senses, a reboot into realities often overlooked. So often we do not see what is right before us, or hear what we could be hearing, cloaked in shadows. These shadows could be illuminated by the light of the wisdom of our kin, the pertinent purpose of our involvement in the betterment of our world, or in simply believing in the sweet hope of a new sun rising.

I am honored to know David, and look forward to knowing him better. By reading this book, I believe you can get to know him better as well, and come to respect him as the poet, teacher, and golden soul he really is.

Matt Elmore