Tag Archives: reading

Update to my ‘Reviews’ and ‘About’ pages

I have updated my reviews page and my about page to include the latest reviews of ‘The girl who wasn’t there and other poems’ and ‘Streetwalker and other stories’.

For my Reviews page please visit http://newauthoronline.com/reviews-of-my-books/

For my About page please visit http://newauthoronline.com/about/

For ‘The girl who wasn’t there and other poems’ please visit http://www.amazon.com/girl-wasnt-there-other-poems-ebook/dp/B0155KSKOC for the US and http://www.amazon.com/girl-wasnt-there-other-poems-ebook/dp/B0155KSKOC for the UK

For ‘Streetwalker and other stories’ please visit http://www.amazon.com/Street-Walker-other-stories-Morris-ebook/dp/B00HLRNDP4 for the US and http://www.amazon.co.uk/Street-Walker-other-stories-Morris-ebook/dp/B00HLRNDP4 for the UK

“The Girl Who Wasn’t There And Other Poems” Is Soon To Be Available In Print

I am in the process of publishing a print edition of “The Girl Who Wasn’t There And Other Poems”, which is currently available as an ebook in the Amazon Kindle store. The print edition of “The Girl Who Wasn’t There” will be available direct from me at a cost of £5. If you would like to order a print copy of “The Girl Who Wasn’t There” please send an email to newauthoronline (at) gmail dot com (the address is rendered in this way to defeat spammers). Below is “Two Voices”, one of the poems to be found in my latest collection:

PB with text 01 small

Two Voices

 

You talk to me of lambs gambolling, of ramblers ambling, through fields green, beside the meandering stream.

You speak to me of verdant bowers, where lovers while away the hours, in love’s young dream.

I tell you of an urban street, where the gale buffets and people battle to retain their feet.

I impart to you the wind’s loan moan, as I wander home alone, in weather bleak.

 

Links To Purchase The Ebook:

 

For the United Kingdom please visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/girl-wasnt-there-other-poems-ebook/dp/B0155KSKOC/ref=cm_cr_pr_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8. For the rest of the world please go to http://www.amazon.com/girl-wasnt-there-other-poems-ebook/dp/B0155KSKOC/ref=cm_cr_pr_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

 

Autumn Rain

A further poem in honour of Autumn. “Autumn Rain” can be found in “Dalliance: A Collection Of Poetry And Prose”, (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dalliance-collection-poetry-prose-Morris-ebook/dp/B00QQVJC7E or http://www.amazon.com/Dalliance-collection-poetry-prose-Morris-ebook/dp/B00QQVJC7E).

 

Autumn Rain

 

Rain you are lonely, crying outside in the darkness.

 

A few sad fireworks fizzle and die.

 

Me, sitting alone on my sofa. Rain, is it you who are lonely, or I?

Ploughing

I shall plough my furrow

watching others burrow.

I shall sit with unclouded brow

Observing my fellow man worry about when and how.

I shall stand aloof

While others concern themselves with the truth.

The sun shines.

My lines

run on.

The time is long since gone

For expressing anything other than amusement

Or bemusement.

Who will smile in the end

When the axe descends?

 

Country Places

Books in oak cases,

Country places.

Grandfather clocks tick,

The squire leans upon his stick.

A gun dog through the bracken scrambles,

After him the squire ambles.

 

—

 

Neon advertising signs,

Clubbers drunk on wine.

Half dressed girls sway on unsteady feet,

Trying to keep to the beat.

Fruit machines flash,

After knife wielding thugs the police dash.

 

—

 

In his study the squire sits,

from a glass of fine brandy he sips.

The dog his hand licks,

Elsewhere society falls to bits.

 

Strange Conversations Hav I had

“Hello?”

I halted my walk through All Saints Churchyard and turned enquiringly in the direction of the voice. The speaker, having caught my attention continued thus,

“Why are these leaning? The stones I mean”, he said.

“I don’t know” I replied, continuing on my way home.

 

Perhaps my response to the above question was a little terse. However I was unsure as to why a total stranger should accost me with such a peculiar question and I had no wish to stand around debating matters about which I knew little, in a churchyard as evening fell. Afterwards however I began to ponder on this strange question. My pondering did not revolve around why gravestones lean (I assume that over time they tend to tilt). Rather my thoughts centred around the people residing under said stones. When one is dead surely one has no interest in whether the stone above your head is dead straight or leaning like a man who has just consumed 10 pints of strong beer? The sleepers in that quiet earth will, I assume rest with the same repose irrespective of whether the stone above their head tilts or stands straight as a die?

The incident brought to mind the closing lines of Brontae’s Wuthering Heights,

 

“I sought, and soon discovered, the three headstones on the slope next the moor: on middle one grey, and half buried in the heath; Edgar Linton’s only harmonized by the turf and moss creeping up its foot; Heathcliff’s still bare.

I lingered round them, under that benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth”.

A Further 2 Reviews Of “The Girl Who Wasn’t There And Other Poems”

I was thrilled to receive the following 2 5 star reviews of “The Girl Who Wasn’t There And Other Poems”:

 

“It is with great expectation that I started to read, “The Girl Who Wasn’t There And other Poems” by K. Morris. Even more enticing was the quote on the book’s

rear cover from Oscar Wilde, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”.

 

Each poem represents a picture or better even, a snapshot from an old Polaroid of life’s other side which makes Wilde quote seem apropos as he knew firsthand

the changes life could take given his troubles in his later years. But aside from that as I read these poems another voice spoke to me, that of Edgar Allan

Poe. The wit of Oscar Wilde crossed with the macabre of Poe. This is dark poetry and one might find themselves a little too familiar with the situations

our subjects find themselves in.

 

We are given a hearty portion of love lost turned to its sleazy side; disillusionment with love and the mask used to portray this illusion as it feast

upon our soul in waking hours. But we’re reminded that we all turn to dust no matter what our accomplishments as we ask the ‘London Rain’ to wash away

this London hell we find ourselves in.

 

In ‘The Hypocrite’ we see a fine upstanding man, quick to condemn, above reproach, but for the grace of God it would be he instead of them.

 

‘The Spider and the Fly’ displays how each is doomed, both sides of life are found at fault.

 

We do see some light at the end of these gray skies as in the ‘Wit of a Gentlemen Suitor to His Beloved’ and the metaphor of the wind, the breeze to bring

about the hopes of our better angels.

 

I read ‘Venus in Firs’ and thought this might be pointing to Wilde himself and the notoriety that beseeched him.

 

‘The Fox and the Bear’ brought me back to the conditions of life and how we could find ourselves at the opposing end.

 

‘Handbags and Shoes’ brings us to the material gain we long for and the things we do for their gain.

 

Death is exposed in ‘The Dying Year’ and ‘Waking Early’ and in the closing line of ‘Saturday Morning’.

 

In the poems ‘Dolls’, ‘Drowning in Nightmare’ and ‘Digging’, I’m reminded more than ever of the effect Edgar Allan Poe may have had on this book of poetry.

 

In ‘Young Lady, Older Man’ we see the passing of any real feelings for both sides, the banality of it all. In this we return to the shame and pain, an

endless path as the bed post are witness to all that has gone wrong in love.

 

And for me the saving grace of it all, defined in the poem ‘Dog’.

 

This is a fine collection of poetry sure to capture the reader and find them at the mercy of these written words”. (For the review please visit http://www.amazon.com/review/R3J0CCGHV37EQ/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0155KSKOC).

 

“A lovely collection of poems about living in the gutter of life. I find the poems touching and thought provoking, some made me laugh others are more serious

and sad. My favourites were the poems: The Whispering Wind, Masks and Innocence Lost”. (For the review please visit http://www.amazon.com/review/R1Q1N4ER7HNH5O/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0155KSKOC).

 

Many thanks to both reviewers for taking the time to read and review “The Girl Who Wasn’t There And Other Poems”.

 

Kevin

A 4 Star Review Of My Book “The Girl Who Wasn’t There And Other Poems”

I was pleased to receive the below 4 star review of my recently released collection of poetry, “The Girl Who Wasn’t There And Other Poems”:

 

“This is a great collection of poetry; some better than others. My favourites were “Two Voices” and “Dog” with “The Fox And The Bear”close behind them. I also really enjoyed “The Wolf And The Owl” and “Vampiress” a lot. There weren’t really any I didn’t like, but – as I already mentioned – I enjoyed some more than others”.

 

For the above review please visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R3OANU8LFG54NI/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0155KSKOC.

 

Thank you to the reviewer for taking the time to read and review “The Girl Who Wasn’t There And Other Poems”.

 

Kevin