This was my first poetry collection, years on I can see how it foreshadowed the personal crisis and struggle I waded through soon after it was published. I think when writing the sunset poetry I was trying to reconcile different conflicting aspects of my character and beliefs, old and new. Through the process of trying to say something new about sunsets, I learnt that we do not perceive reality as it is but as we are. Published by Arkbound. You can still buy it here.
The ancient Chinese hero named Houyi raised his bow to the nine suns sat in the sky. These many suns were riotous siblings, always fighting and playing with one another. Their antics were scorching the fragile earth so nothing could grow. With bravery and flare Houyi released arrow after arrow. He shot from the sky eight of the suns, leaving only one. It is the same sun we see now in our sky. I tell you this story because it is what I set out to do with these poems. Conscious of the intense and frequent representation sunsets have in our collective imaginations I set out to see them in a fresh way. Of course this kind of cultural exorcism was folly. What actually happened though was far more valuable. The sunsets freed me, not the other way around. It is my hope that through this collection of poems you will be inspired to engage with the regular miracle of sunsets and that in doing so you will experience freedom.
