So for the past year I’ve been working on my second collection of poetry, Messages in Bottles (hoping happiness replies). I’m self publishing it through Createspace, as I did with my first book, Home – A Poetry Collection. I’m extremely proud of this book, both because of the actual work inside it, but also because of the story it tells, and I’m excited for it to actually be told.
I’ve talked about this before on my Instagram, but to me, the ‘messages in bottles’ is a symbol of letting go and saying goodbye to the past. Messages in bottles are a bit of a mystery because no matter who the letter inside may be addressed to, there is a smaller than minuscule chance it will actually end up with them. So, it’s a way of letting go of all those thoughts, feelings and things you wanted to say. You’re letting them sail out to sea and you no longer have to think about them. And in letting go of the thoughts and feelings that weigh you down, in turn you can live a happier life, hence the ‘hoping happiness replies’. I hope that some of my words are inspiring and as well as helping me, it will help readers with their own personal journeys to being happier and more content with themselves and the people they choose to surround them.
This book contains 5 sections: ‘Messages to him’, ‘Messages to almost’, ‘Messages to them’, ‘Messages to me’, and ‘Messages to you’. Each section tells its own story of moving forward and finding happiness, while still telling a story together as a whole. In my last book, the poems were in somewhat a chronological order, the story being told chronologically, whereas this time, each journey within each section almost happened simultaneously, which I think lends itself to the concept that each poem is an individual message.
Once the book is published, I want to share more about my process for creating the book, but for now I just just wanted to share a snippet of the story behind it to let people know what’s coming! In the coming few weeks before it’s published, I’m going to try and post more frequently, some of my favourite poems from the book.
In the meantime, you can buy my first book here (if you want to 🙂 )
Lauren Kathleen 