Underword

by J.S. Watts

In an age where we can talk about anything, we remain reticent about death. It is an integral, complex, unavoidable part of life, the one guaranteed thing all of us will experience, but it remains our final taboo. Underword is a poetry collection that is not afraid to examine death from many angles and viewpoints. Loosely following the narrative flow of the story of Orpheus, the poems of Underword explore life, dying, death, mourning, moving on, hell and the afterlife, hope, disintegration and despair, and endings. Death is as limitless and as limiting as life. Its stories are many.

78 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2022

About the author

J.S. Watts is a British poet, novelist and short story writer.

Born in London, she now lives and writes in East Anglia. In between, she read English at Somerville College, Oxford and spent many years working in the UK education sector.

Her poetry, short stories and non-fiction appear in publications in Britain, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the States and have been broadcast on BBC and independent Radio. She has edited assorted magazines and anthologies.

Her poetry collections, "Cats and Other Myths", "Years Ago You Coloured Me" and "Underword", plus the multi-award nominated poetry pamphlet, "Songs of Steelyard Sue" are published by Lapwing Publications. Her poetry pamphlet, "The Submerged Sea", is published by Dempsey & Windle. Her novels, "A Darker Moon" - dark literary fantasy, "Witchlight", "Old Light" & "Elderlight"- the urban fantasy Witchlight series, are published by Vagabondage Press.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of light and colour, despite its dark subject matter. Thoughtful, well crafted, thought provoking poetry adding depth and emotion to the narrative of Orpheus while exploring the western world's last remaining taboo.