alice reimagined – new poetry book out soon

Many of you will be aware that I am a poet as well as a coach. My non-fiction writing is very much informed by my work as a poet. If you have read my last book “The Inner Fire” you will have ‘met’ a character in there called alice. And yes, it’s alice with a small letter ‘a’ because she is a persona rather than an actual person.

“The Inner Fire” contained several poems from alice as well as dialogue with her. This is all part of my active imagination process of self-coaching, which I explain in the book.

Earlier this week I completed a poetry sequence which has taken seven years from concept to completion. It gives you a much more extensive take on this persona. It’s called “alice reimagined” and it builds on an earlier sequence written in 2004 called “the alice conversations”. It’s a substantial work that comprises the original poems, each forming the trigger for a new set of poems, and a set of pieces that reflect on the name Alice – drawing narrative arcs and connections across history and literature, philosophy and psychology.

In the work, I am also drawing on the various appearances of Alice in history and literature. There is a wonderful album of music called “Alice” by Tom Waits, which draws on the Alice character which Lewis Carroll wrote about in “Alice in Wonderland” and “Alice Through the Looking Glass”. This music was a key influence in the work. I love what Waits did with that album – and listened to it often when writing.

The middle section of this book, “A Warehouse of Alices” also draws on the stories of some famous people throughout history who were called Alice – from good to evil, young to old. Ten characters, and ten thought pieces about them.

The book ends with a celebration of Alice in the “Festival of Alice” through a literary overture and four movements.

In an ambitious (and challenging – hence, four years to write) approach, I have set out to reimagine and define the inner feminine in a way that will hopefully stimulate your own thinking about this weirdly post-modern, post-everything world where different cultures stretch across a feminist and misogynist axis with so little making sense in the maelstrom in which we live.

The book is in editing and design stage now. More news of its publication in the coming weeks as I aim to get it out before I do my first poetry reading in 18 years this coming April. Let me know if you are interested in hearing more about this.