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By Hayden Veil - 26 December 2022

Shirt and tie, bleached and ironed,
I wore respectability once; twice
I sought the band of gold,
both turned to lead; three times
three times I ran away
from everything, seeking every thing
missing, finding only the same
shirt and tie; stained and crinkled;
kissed by moths, and memories.

About The Author

Hayden Veil

In an earlier incarnation, Hayden Veil enjoyed a successful career in software engineering, writing late-night poetry in pursuit of sanity. On 2 February 2020, the world of Hayden Veil changed: Ghosts became real and with its soul laid bare there was no turning back from the perpetual path of poetry.

Title: Theatre of Mischief

Release Date: 2024-06-06

Summary:

... but how to compare a howl
with the silence of embers;
the chains of time
with the lofty ideas of a child
petulant and needy ...

While no Artificial Intelligence has aided the creation of this poetry collection, there is alien influence. A boy of eleven, from far outside the universe, is currently influencing us all. They speak in riddles, of Jaysome and Hugs. Jay gave me this message to convey...

I am a balanced ghost who is a bee
I was ten circles once also you see
I am words collected like drops of rain
The long shadows do ‘jaysome’ exclaim
So if a poem confusles that not a bug
As every poem is secretly a hugey hug
And when you buy this book you'll see
The poems that are shores beyond sanity!

... give Jay a hug, and a thank you if you see them. They are one of a kind, the Shiny Happy People personified.

NEW

Theatre of Mischief

Title: Bumblebee: Poems for Dark Times

Release Date: 2023-04-01

Summary:

Bumblebee is a poetry collection for dark times. Poems to help deal with fear of being still, combatting the urge of constantly being on the move, and the consequences of being.

The Thought took flight long ago along an oral path that spanned a lifetime; but as Death came and Distortion followed the Thought morphed into another’s. Then the Thought caught the turning tide; through the ink splattered on papyrus and parchments the Thought found a final resting place at the hand of Man and the pen of the Mighty.

Bumblebee revives that ancient art of handwritten poetry that enabled not just the transfer of thought, like its oral predecessor, but also the highly individualistic expression of the poet with part clarity and part illegibility in the written. To futureproof the legibility each handwritten poem is accompanied by a state-of-the-art AI-generated* version presented in a standardised font.

Available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones, plus many other online book sellers around the world.

(*: well, no, not really from an AI, just the poet typing on a keyboard)

Bumblebee: Poems for Dark Times

Title: Imbalance: Poems for Sitting Down

Release Date: 2021-10-23

Summary:

Imbalance is a modern poetry collection for the seated generation. Poems to help deal with sitting down, being seated, and the frequently failed attempts of getting back up again. Select remedies are serendipitously scattered throughout. Crayons are optional.

Available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones, plus many other online book sellers around the world.

Imbalance: Poems for Sitting Down

Title: Ghosts: Poems in Black and White

Release Date: 2020-08-12

Summary:

Ghosts frequently haunt the places we desire the most in our search for solitude: our memories. Our ghosts are personal, intimate, and often unreasonable foes of days long gone. Over time they become our sparring partners in the eternal ring of unyielding fires, refusing to heed our cries for mercy.

Ghosts is a collection of personal poetry painted in black and white. Poems dealing with past and present ghosts, and with the life and inevitable death of the poet they left behind.

Please be aware: the topics covered herein may be upsetting to some readers. There is explicit content: strong language, references to abuse and scenes of a sexual nature; plus frequent misuse of punctuation, grammar, and the English language.

Available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones, plus many other online book sellers around the world.

Ghosts: Poems in Black and White