Friends is the fifth book in the series of my poems written as a young girl, Memories from another Lifetime. It was published on 01 September 2024, and it is dedicated to all the friends on my Journey who believed in me.
When I first started planning and setting up this poetry blog back in August 2021, I did not imagine that, just 3 years down the road, I would be the author of five volumes of poems! I published the fifth volume, Friends, a full year after Soul, which was released in August 2023.
But first, a bit about me for those visiting my blog for the first time or who are not familiar with my story. I am not a professional writer, in fact, I have a long career in the corporate world. Poetry is my passion and, I now believe, my true calling in life.
Vanita the Poet
I started writing poems in 1981 at the young age of 13, following a deep personal trauma. I needed an outlet for my raw and powerful emotions, to find relief, release, and ultimately, redemption.
The topics I wrote about were very personal, private, and at times, dark – unrequited love, desire, pain, betrayal, and my budding sexuality. Many of my poems also had a spiritual undertone. The maturity and depth of my poems written as a young girl belied my age, and I now believe they might have been memories from a previous life.
After a hiatus of almost 4 decades I started writing again, and I launched this poetry blog in November 2021. Memories from another Lifetime is a series of my poems written as a young girl. My mission is to make the voice of my younger self heard.
A personal goal fulfilled
By August 2023 I had published four books in Kindle format – Pain, Love, Desire, and Soul – all within the course of only 10 months. All the work was done during evenings and on weekends, on top of a demanding corporate job. I needed a break from releasing new volumes.
Instead, I set myself a personal goal for 2024 of making the first four volumes available in paperback. This was no mean feat for me! Pain came out in paperback in April 2024, and all four books were available as paperbacks by July 2024. I was proud to be able to fulfil my goal and make it to the finishing line.
All my books have found an appreciative audience and have been received well, and I am truly grateful for all the warm reviews.
Friends and friendship
While preparing Soul during the summer of 2023, I had actually also compiled poems for another volume, on the theme of friendship.
Growing up I always hungered for a ‘best friend’, a kindred spirit who would truly understand me and feel as deeply as I did. It was only late into my adulthood that I learnt to be my own best friend and value solitude.
Once the first four books were released as paperbacks, I felt ready to go back to this compilation, and began working on the volume which would ultimately be released as Friends.
Snippets from Friends
Several of the poems in Friends were written at a turbulent time in my life, and they present a highly idealised and youthful expression of friendship. Yet they also witness the complex and often conflicting emotions in a friendship – love, devotion, hurt, insecurity, and even jealousy.
Here are a few snippets from poems in Friends.
‘What robes shall I wear
For you?
You have seen me in strength
In the dignified robes of strength
You have seen me
In rags of humiliating weakness.’
From For You, 1985
‘I am the window
Through which sunshine
Can enter
The dark room of your Life –
If only you will hold
My outstretched hand of friendship
And lift the curtains
Of your mind.’
From The Saviour, 1983
Thank you!
I hope you will enjoy the poems in Friends. My mission is to make the voice of my younger self heard. I wish to touch the lives of as many people as possible with my poems. Please help me by sharing this post and Friends with friends and family.
Friends is currently available in Kindle format and free on KindleUnlimited. It will soon be available in paperback on Amazon.
If you enjoy my books, please do leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads – this is more important for authors than most readers realise. Your review will help other readers find good books to read. My books can also be found on BookBub.
Please also leave a comment here in my blog, it will make me very happy to hear from you.
Thank you for joining me on my Journey.
Vanita Shukla Hork, September 2024