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Love in an ISIS Town : Collected Poems of Exile and Resurfacing (Volume I) Kindle Edition
D. J. Swales is a poet and son of “The Troubles”, Ulster’s ethnic conflict. His later West Berlin adolescence, behind the Iron Curtain, preceded years in divided Cyprus, Korea and West Texas.
Swales’ remarkable debut poetry collection documents his life as a Falls Road exile on the open road, seeking the spirit of his sea dog grandfather who died in the Port of Hamburg, knocked down into the hold of a ship.
Swales composed the poems of LOVE IN AN ISIS TOWN during his most transient decade. Golden threads of nature, history, and place are woven through these collected works from six continents. From the political shadows of Belfast’s Cave Hill, to the deadly volcanic shadows of Japan’s Mount Unzen, Swales crosses paths with luminaries, but none more inspiring than everyday, enduring individuals.
Now available in paperback.
Buy the Kindle ebook version for ten bonus poems (also readable on Substack).
LOVE IN AN ISIS TOWN is for readers of Seamus Heaney, Maya Angelou, Emily Dickenson, A. A. Milne, Dorothy Parker, Eavan Boland, W. B. Yeats, Carol Ann Duffy, Celia Johnson, James Joyce, Derek Mahon, Natsume Sōseki, John Hewitt, John Betjeman, Lewis Carroll, Christina Rossetti, Carol Ann Duffy, Kate Tempest, Benjamin Zephaniah, Nikita Gill, William Blake, Ysra Daley-Ward, Fleur Adcock, Lewis Carroll, Liz Berry, Jackie Kay, Hollie McNish, Imtiaz Dharker, Helen Dunmore, Margaret Atwood, D. H. Lawrence, Robert Browning, E. E. Cummings, Edgar Allen Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, Simon Armitage, George the Poet, Hollie McNish, Sylvia Plath, John Cooper Clarke, T. S. Eliot, John Keats, Walt Whitman, John Milton, Wendy Cope, Kate Tempest, Leonard Cohen, and William Wordsworth, Ocean Vuong, Jack Kerouac, Mary Oliver, Charles Bukowski, Matsuo Bashō, Oscar Wilde, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, and William S. Burroughs.
D. J. Swales is the author of the Baratanac Trilogy dark fiction series, and People of Bloomsbury, a spellbinding book of magical realism.
⚠Read this poetry collection for FREE on Kindle Unlimited.
Listen to D. J. Swales Gothic and Other Tales, the poet's top audio drama podcasts, available on all major podcasting platforms.
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateDecember 14, 2020
- File size3019 KB
Product details
- ASIN : B08MZ8NBK8
- Publisher : (December 14, 2020)
- Publication date : December 14, 2020
- Language : English
- File size : 3019 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Not Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 197 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #4,072,177 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #2,787 in British Poetry
- #8,421 in American Poetry (Kindle Store)
- #20,891 in European Poetry (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
With over a decade spent traveling alongside "Letitia", a remarkably roomy suitcase bursting with books, D. J. Swales, a bestselling author and poet, can often be discovered plotting his novels in the same medieval Worcestershire taverns that once welcomed J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Alternatively, he might be peering from a window in Hertfordshire's verdant Sarratt village, where spy thriller maestro John Le Carré chose to set his secretive spy-training centre.
The grandson of an Irish folklorist, D. J. shares his family name with Dracula's first Whitby victim. Like Bram Stoker, his fellow Irish author, D. J. 's pen was fated to find words whispered in the dark, often inspired by the Celtic fairy tales of his youth. D. J. 's passion for folklore extends beyond the 12 countries and 3 U.S. states he has called home. As an “international tumbleweed” his stories weave experiences, histories, and myths from 120 countries and 45 U.S. states. Many tales were spun in haunted hotels, bustling railway stations, and cosy cafés.
How to begin your literary voyage with D. J.'s bookshelf? For aficionados of sagas like Game of Thrones, The Witcher, and Penny Dreadful, the unmissable BARATANAC TRILOGY (Book One of the Fitzmarbury Witches) beckons. This trilogy promises spine-tingling occult horror and captivating dark historical fantasy. "A vanished London author's hard drive surfaces in Barbados, unveiling a disconcerting draft trilogy that delves into the origins of London's foremost witch and her infernal legion. As pages turn, Carthaginian religious sects of antiquity weave their influence, corrupting the witch's youthful innocence and casting malevolent shadows across the shores of ancient Spain and distant Britain." Devotees of Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Alma Katsu should not miss this literary journey.
For enthusiasts of heartwarming and enchanting magical realism, discover D. J. 's latest fabulism novel—PEOPLE OF BLOOMSBURY. Influenced by the whimsical allure often found in Japanese popular literature, this book invites you to meet your eccentric new London neighbours. D. J.'s pen blends cozy fiction, magical realism, suspense, and uplifting quirkiness to craft a tale that will make you smile, chuckle, and perhaps even shed a tear. Within this debut novel from the Curled Up and Cozy Collection, D. J. has spun an experience that echoes the likes of Richard Osman, Hiromi Kawakami, Beth O'Leary, Sayaka Murata, Armistead Maupin, Sophie Kinsella, and Marian Keyes.
HIT PODCASTS: Embark on audio fiction adventures with FITZMARBURY WITCHES and PEOPLE OF BLOOMSBURY, available on all major podcast platforms (anchor.fm/djswales).
POEMS: Dive into D. J. 's nomadic verses within LOVE IN AN ISIS TOWN (a Kindle No. 1 bestselling poetry book), an exploration of transient life on the open road. Drawing inspiration from poets like Charles Bukowski, Bashō, and Seamus Heaney, these verses resonate. MIDNIGHT'S TWIN offers a delve into the Gothic and macabre (also featuring selected excerpts from LOVE IN AN ISIS TOWN).
OTHER BOOKS: Don't overlook the compelling LIONS OF UTICA (A Fitzmarbury Witches Ghost Story), an enthralling paranormal thriller set in ancient North Africa. Additionally, brace yourself for the spine-chilling short story PARIS: A CURSE IN THE CITY OF THE CATACOMBS (soon to be adapted into a screenplay).
UPCOMING CREATIONS: The next addition to the charming and whimsical CURLED UP AND COZY COLLECTION is in the final stages of editing, accompanied by D. J.'s enthralling psychological thriller, NIGHT TRAIN IN MOROCCO (also adapted for the screen).
Anticipate the spine-tingling supernatural suspense of GOLEM OF NAGASAKI, masterfully set amidst the locales of London and Japan, soon to be followed by its prequel, RADISH (both poised for the screenplay treatment).
Kindled by obscure and haunting fairy tales, prepare for the immersive experience of LOVE AND LOSS IN THE FAIRY: GOBLIN WARS.
STAY CONNECTED THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA: Catch the latest from D. J. Swales on TikTok & IG: @djswaleswritesbooks
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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D.J. Swales and his writing are proof that one can travel the world and never be a tourist. Though he does recognize that one can ask oneself, all along the journey, if any of the effort and sacrifice will mean anything, no matter the level of proliferation of one’s written word or the extent of one’s travels. Ultimately, sardonically, he hints at his understanding that the reality is: a writer will never have the assurance of an audience but the work is always worth it. So he takes his sojourns, he uses his resources, and he finds nuance under the shades of trees, below bridges, beneath mustaches, and never lets you look away from the grit nor beauty we are capable of in this life.
A good measure for poetry is in the senses an author is able to activate through their words. Swales does this with grace and whimsy, but with respect appropriate of each setting, delivering powerful prose and poetry wherein as deliciously as he describes the last morsel of a meal in a foreign city, he expertly pivots to lessons in introspection as a traveler traversing landscapes and clashing with human traits, only to later trigger scent memories of smog, musk, rot, fresh bread, public transportation, hotel rooms, and strong coffee in vignettes of a day collected from particular vantage points, as if to coax or even wish the reader into finding the exact location of where each poem was written. He describes his fingers touching flesh with lust, with fear, and with contempt, communicating the sweet, satisfying taste of stolen kisses and the ache of withholding intention and making soft touches “accidental.”
The author consistently decides against placing a blanket of tranquility over a nation’s brooding or bloody history because he knows that love doesn’t always conquer all, but where it doesn’t, he leaves a breadcrumb trail to a timeless reminder that letting go is as important as remembering, as in his reflection about bodies that once lay over fields where people now dance or when exchanging seductive glances across a garden that was once the scene of a great battle or living at the mercy of a thin walled home, the only privacy and protection from persecution by forces beyond his control.
In the many ways this collection can be interpreted, one thing became clear as I neared the end: no matter where we are in life or the circumstances we find ourselves in, the point is we are here, now, and love can exist everywhere -even in an ISIS town.
Top reviews from other countries
The poetry leaves me breathless. Sleep eludes me, the imagery is so vivid. The poems stay with me and they will stay with you too.
So honest. So direct. Brilliant.