Review of 2025 Part 3

Spring arrived in the Northern hemisphere, and Wheelsong Books was busy constructing the next books in its sequence of premier quality poetry books. One of our exciting new signings was Ryan Morgan, a Welsh-born poet who now resides in Ireland. Ryan's poetry is stunning to read, and it was an absolute must to bring him on board the good ship Wheelsong Books. His debut publication Elementals was published in April. 

Soon after, in May, we published our latest charity project Wheelsong Poetry Anthology 6. Edited by Steve Wheeler, Matt Elmore and Nadia Martelli. this massive anthology contained more than 250 poems written by Invisible Poets and other Facebook poetry group members that had been rigorously reviewed by our editorial panel. The beautiful sunset over the water image for the cover was photographed by Kelly Rodriguez Cheek, a British photographer now residing in Argentina.

In June, one of our 'old hands' Brandon Adam Haven published his third volume of poetry with Wheelsong Books - Bellowing to a Lost Echo. The book contained a number of dark poems and also the conclusions to several Gothic style short stories that had been introduced in his earlier publication, This Broken House. Brandon has now stepped down from his role as an Admin for Invisible Poets and we would all like to thank him warmly for his valuable contributions in making the group a success, and we wish him well in his new ventures in the poetry world. 

Also in the same month Wheelsong Books published a volume of experimental poetry by Steve Wheeler titled simply: eXp. The collection also featured several short stories, but the poetry contained within covered several experimental techniques including surreal, malapropism, stream of consciousness and caligram poetry.  eXp is a practical outworking of the theory and history featured in the textbook Creative Deviance, by the same author.

All the above volumes are available for purchase from links on the official Wheelsong Books website or by emailing Wheelsong at wheelsong6@gmail.com. You can also click on the links above to find more details on the books, and profiles/images of the authors. 

Steve Wheeler

Review of 2025 Part 2

As spring began to arrive in the Northern hemisphere, and the cold of winter began to dissipate, Invisible Poets launched an exciting new initiative. The Invisible Poets Roadshow, sponsored by funding from Wheelsong Books, held its inaugural show in Plymouth, at 44 Embankment Road, a high street coffee bar. In the photos are Matt Elmore, Richard de Bulat and Tyrone Warren.

Guest of honour on the night was Matt Elmore (author of Constellation Road and Average Angel), who arrived in the south west of England steely eyed and ready for any adventure. After sampling the famous Cornish pasty and a cup of English tea, we arrived at the cafe and set up our lighting and sound systems. Soon Matt launched into his road show set, instantly captivating his audience with a machine-gun routine of rapid fire poems. His dynamic stage act has to be seen to be appreciated! Also in the show that night was an open mic section that featured Iain Strachan, Kate Cameron, Nadia Martelli, Richard de Bulat, Tyrone Warren (author of Stealing Fire), Kenneth Wheeler (author of Inspirations) and others. In the photo are Steve Wheeler and Nadia Martelli doing a Live Poets Society broadcast and official launch of Wheelsong Poetry Anthology 6 from Plymouth. 

The following day, there was a tour of the old city and harbours of Plymouth, and a lunch of Fish and Chips on the historic Barbican only two hundred metres away from the Mayflower Steps. Earlier that day Matt and Steve Wheeler were interviewed on radio, discussing their mutual passion for poetry and their shared Christian faith. In the afternoon several poets accompanied us on a visit to Dartmoor National Park.

Subsequent roadshow events held in Derby, Plymouth and Colchester later in the year raised more funds for Save the Children. The Colchester show, held at the Patch Cafe was hosted by Zac Warden and featured a number of poets previously mentioned as well as sets from Sarah Wheatley, Michelle Tarbin, Zac Warden, Graeme Stokes (author of Off the Top of My Head), Sean Timms and Sharon Toner. In the photos below are Zac Warden, Graeme Stokes and Michelle Tarbin, at the Colchester roadshow.

We aim to develop the roadshow further, and are now actively seeking other hosts to bring it to their own hometowns in the United Kingdom. If you have a venue you think would be suitable, and a group of poets who would love to participate, contact Steve Wheeler on wheelsong6@gmail.com to discuss. It won't cost you a penny! One of the best things about roadshows is that poets meet up for the first time, and long-lasting friendships are forged. The photo below of Kate Cameron (Minky) and Nadia Martelli meeting for the first time at the Plymouth roadshow says it all!

Wheelsong Books has also funded the design, development and production of a range of merchandising, including Invisible Poets t-shirt, embroidered baseball caps and hoodies, all of which can be purchased directly from wheelsong6@gmail.com. All proceeds from sales will be donated to Save the Children.  

Thank you to everyone for your continued support of Wheelsong Books and Invisible Poets. We hope to organise a roadshow in your home town somewhere in the UK in 2026. Do get in touch with us!

Steve Wheeler

Review of 2024: Part Two

The first part of this annual review can be read at this link.

May

As the summer of 2024 began to break through, May saw the publication of Marmalade Hue by Oldham poet Donna Marie Smith. There's a story behind this cover. During the production stage Donna and I discussed the title of the book, and I asked her to come up with a title that lent itself to imagery. Marmalade Hue was chosen because it immediately conjured up a picture in my mind. The image was one I took of trees in winter, which I then colourised. 

Donna's gritty, down-to-earth but very humorous and touching book has been quite popular, and has attracted some glowing reviews, including this one by American poet Gregory Richard Barden: 

This wonderful book of poetry is filled with so much beautifully expressed content, presented with eloquence and charm, I would recommend this for everyone – get one for your nightstand or coffee table, and take this marvellous journey through poetic excellence!

June

As the month of June began, Wheelsong published its next collection of the year, by Gregory Richard Barden. Melancholy Moon is the first of several collections that will be published by Greg through Wheelsong. Greg's eloquently crafted poetry deserves a much larger audience than he currently enjoys, and hopefully this book will begin to make him more visible in the poetry community.

Greg is a master of the fixed form genre of poetry and his stunning poetry is very rich in both imagery and metaphor. It's quite exciting to anticipate what he will create in his next book.As Mark Massey remarked in his review: 

Greg Barden’s collection of poetry touches every emotion. His sonnets are perfection. This book needs to be in your collection.

July

There has been a demand to publish a second collection from Matt Elmore ever since his first book, Constellation Road hit the bookshelves. In July Wheelsong finally released a superb collection from the Kentucky poet that we hope does justice to his poetic genius. Matt creates poetry that is breathless, relentless and thrilling. In Average Angel, he conjures up a very enjoyable sequence of poems that challenge, thrill and amaze.

In Matt's own words:

Average angels surround us. They give more than they take. They make life worthwhile and they light up our lives. Do you know any? This is about them… Life is a game of opposites. Positive and negative, pleasure and pain… life and death. There are many who cannot reconcile the good from the bad because there seems to be such little hope without some form of unseen intervention.

August

My own book of new poetry, The Infinite Now was published in August of 2024. It contained a collection of diverse themes and styles. I think it's my most sophisticated book to date, but I won't blow my own trumpet. I'll introduce my brass section instead:

This extraordinary volume ... is a magnificent achievement of poetic excellence, inspiring spirituality, and exceptional beauty. Steve Wheeler is a modern master creating an immense breadth and depth of poetic forms and intriguing themes. – Linda Powers O'Dell

From the preface, through the verse-gilded pages, to the very last punctuation point, this book is a rich and varied glimpse into the realms of a prolific poet and a wondrous imagination. Every selection is a new spell-binding story that will leave you breathless, enriched, and wanting for more. Of all the many anthologies I have read of late, this one was the hardest to put down. – Gregory Richard Barden


The final part of this annual review can be read at this link.

Steve Wheeler

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

Try A Triolet!

It’s not always easy to find inspiration to write poetry. 

Writing is just part of it. There can be devices, terms, forms to consider, and appropriate content to juxtapose in creating something unique. Articles in this blog suggest plenty of these, and I encourage you to seek them all!

It’s not that hard though. Pick a path and go for a walk to see where your mind takes you. 

Triolets are most likely the easiest form to incorporate into your poetry tool belt. However, don’t be fooled… there is a trick to it!

A triolet is a one stanza poem of eight lines with a rhyme scheme of ABAAABAB. The first, fourth, and seventh lines are repeated, as well as the second and eighth lines, making the last couple lines repeat the first couple lines.

Consider this triolet from fellow Wheelsong author and triolet queen Charlene Phare from her book Cobalt Skies entitled Drowning In Flowers!

Mother Nature surrounds

Still drowning in flowers

Silently thoughts compound 

Mother Nature surrounds

Enriched soil in the ground

Delicate rain, showers

Mother Nature surrounds

Still drowning in flowers

The trick to the triolet is making the repeating lines function to accentuate those lines that do not repeat… propping up a central theme. 

This poem’s theme could suggest a loved one being buried, or even suffocating under one’s “natural” ideals. Either way, despite “Mother Nature”s presence, peaceful thoughts, rain, and rich nourishment… there is still a drowning taking place, irregardless of the beauty Mother Nature provides. There is pain here that suggests a number of possibilities.

Triolets can be comical, satirical, or poetic. There is a craft about these poems, a way to weave seams of meaning to create a small tapestry of potent verse, as Ms. Phare has done in her triolet above.

Give it a shot! Try a triolet! It may surprise you what you come up with.

Matt Elmore

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

Writing An Alouette

I’ve found it funny how songs about death can be sung within children’s songs… London Bridge Is Falling Down, Humpty Dumpty… what have our children been singing?!

Alouette is one of those songs. A popular children’s tune made popular in the late 1700s, it is a sweet song about a little skylark bird that sings the higher it goes. The lyrics also insinuate killing, cleaning and eating the bird as well. So much for happy little singing birds! 

Observe these lyrics!!

Alouette 

Little skylark, lovely little skylark, 

Little skylark, I'll pluck your feathers off.

I'll pluck the feathers off your back.

I'll pluck the feathers off your back.

Off your back!

Off your back! 

Off your tail!

Off your tail! 

Off your legs!

Off your legs!

Off your wings!

Off your wings!

Off your neck!

Off your neck!

Off your eyes!

Off your eyes!

Off your beak!

Off your beak! 

Off your head!

Off your head!

Little lark!

Little lark!

O-o-o-oh

Little skylark, lovely little skylark, 

Little skylark, I'll pluck your feathers off.

Wow! Talk about heavy!!  Opposites really do make the world go around. The singing.quality of this song allowed for a fine rhythm for French canoeists trapping beaver in the new world. Also, cleaning birds was no strange thing before processed meats of today. The song was also brought back from soldiers serving in France during World War I, and no doubt provided a fine cadence to march to.

An alouette is also considered a poem form made popular by a poet named Jan Turner. The form is simple… It consists of two or more stanzas, six lines each, with a syllable meter of 5-5-7-5-5-7  and a rhyme scheme of a-a-b-c-c-b. A rather simple form, it carries a succinct rhyme that can mellifluous in its flow as well as potent in its brevity.

Consider this poem in the alouette form:

mon petite alouette

skip with me daddy!

we play hopscotch see?

I want you to lift me up!

now you put me down!

I chase the dog round!

oww… I fell and hurt my foot!

is it okay? swing…!

let’s swing on the swing!

you promised you’d play with me…

the suns going down!

you’re never around…

you promised you’d sing daddy!

now put me to bed

worn out and well fed

now aren’t I the cutest sight…?

read me a story 

of bears and porridge

kiss me then whisper goodnight 

©️penned by: m.e.

all rights reserved

Note the proper syllable structure, as well as the simple yet catchy rhyme scheme. When properly applied, this form can be both profound and song like, especially when written with a good hook, like the parental angle I attempted above.

It’s always fun to learn different forms, and the quality potential of this music friendly form makes writing in the allotted style delightful… as long as you are not a skylark not wanting to get plucked!

I hope this article was helpful and thank you for reading!

Matt Elmore

Image from: Wikipedia 

References: 

https://americansongwriter.com/the-meaning-behind-the-murderous-french-lullaby-alouette/

http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/alouette.html