Author name: Tricia La Bella

‘Phantom’ – this word has been used and applied to for many things, as the word itself reflects something that appears or seems to exist but is not real or is imagined.

‘Besotted’ – so what are you besotted with or about? Where does the word take you? A word that lead to many different conversations, and explorations.

‘Duck’ – so many ways this word can be used. Lovely to explore different ways of telling a story and to hear the stories behind the use of the word.

‘Empty’ – lots of stories around ’emptiness’, some funny, serious, profound, comforting… all inspiration for expressions – poetry, prose and anything in between.

‘Quirky’ – gave us time to notice the little things, which after time, had us recognise were endearing things, the funny little things, the subtle things that make us smile or warm our hearts.

‘Artificial’ – where did it take us? It was a word that took us in many different directions. The good, the bad, the ugly it could be viewed, in the eyes of the beholder of course.

‘Stubborn’ – the realisation that we name and label to help describe what we see in the behaviours around us. So what does it say when we express something or someone as ‘stubborn’?

Have we have learnt to carry a range of manners that have prevented us from, saying things we actually feel, and what is our truth?

It seems the feeling of alienation, came through in the poems, and we hope you enjoy the diversity of the way in which this emerges.