phillipmellor

One week to go…

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Only one week until Other Silent Days will be available to order and I cannot wait for you all the read it. Putting this book together has been a real labour of love for me and it is difficult for me to describe the journey I have been on to create it.
The book captures over 4 years of my writing and some dramatic shifts in my life.

It has many themes, it would be hard to pin down just one. My hope is that you will read it and draw your own conclusions.
The poems in this book were almost discarded, several times, as I fell in and out of love with them. But they are here now, some of them fully formed pieces, others almost thought dreams. Nevertheless, there is an unbreakable link between them all, and I am proud that the book is finally finished and I can hand it over to you.
As always I want to thank you all for the support and encouragement. It means everything to be able to share these poems with you. I hope they can warm your heart and touch your soul. They are yours now.
Much love,
Phil
Other Silent Days available to order from lulu.com on 1st October 2016

Featuring artwork by Heather Carr
Available in:
Hardback Edition priced £13.08

&

Paperback Edition priced £6.98

Other Silent Days to be released on 1st October 2016

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It is my great pleasure to announce that my new book of poetry, Other Silent Days is to be released on Saturday 1st October 2016!
When the proof copies arrived I was so excited to see four years of work all in one place. I am so proud of this one, and I cannot wait to share it with you all. 

The book contains a huge 362 pages and will be available in both hardcover and paperback editions. I will post the link to my store on the 1st October so you can all easily grab your copy. 
A great big thank you to all of you who have been on this journey with me. Without your support and encouragement the book would not exist. 
Much love to you all. 
Phil xx

Book update

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New book update: 
As some of you may be aware I have been working hard of late putting the finishing touches to my new book of poems, Other Silent Days. I have been getting asked a lot about when it will be out, so I thought I would give you all a little update. 
For those, like me, who cannot help but express their innermost thoughts and feelings in lines of rhyme and then collect those precious little things in a book, will tell you, the endeavour is both rewarding, enjoyable and incredibly hard work at times. Over the last four and some years this particular book has been all these things at one time or another to me and sometimes all of them together. 
Current status of the book is that the manuscript is finished, as is the cover and all have been sent to the printer for first proof copies to be made. I am still waiting for them to drop through my letterbox, or maybe handed to me by the postman, for I doubt both the paperback and hardcover version of the 362 page book will be able to fit through the letterbox. 
I am like a child at Christmas, if Christmas were a randomly assigned day sometime in the very near future, rather than a set date on the calendar. I have already been waiting longer than the postal deadline stated and I can tell you I am more than ready to look over the fruits of my labour 😬 But patience must win the day as my Jedi teachings would say 😝
I was hoping to have the book out by 1st October as that would have been my Mum’s 73rd Birthday and the book is dedicated to her memory. Alas, that is looking less and less likely as the day’s tick by without a proof copy to be seen. 
I promise I will keep those of you interested posted on when the proofs arrive and when I have signed them off so you can take your pick between a shiny new hardcover or paperback of those collected thoughts and feelings of mine. 
I thank you all for your interest and support. As always it means the world to me. But it is late here now and I should have been sleeping a long time ago. Night night all 😴💤
P xx  

Other Silent Days Official Cover Reveal

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After just over 4 years of writing and work the day is drawing closer to the release of my new book of poetry, Other Silent Days. It has been wonderful sharing the journey thus far with you all. Today I received this in my inbox from my fiancé Heather Carr.

I am in love with the this magical cover she has created for the book and I am so excited to share this with you all. Thank you Heather for all your hard work on the art you have been creating for the book. Over the coming weeks there will be more reveals until the final released date. 

Other Silent Days Update… Cover art

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First for all let me say I am sorry this is the first update in a while. I have not fallen off the face of the planet but have been busy moving house and helping with an office move at my day job. I hope the day finds you all well and your weekend is off to the best start. 

Poetry has taken a little bit of a back seat of late with all the chaos that has been going on. However, what has been happening is the cover design for my upcoming book of poems, Other Silent Days. 

I am lucky enough to have my extremely talented other half, Heather Carr working on the art and below is a preview of the work she has been doing. I think it is amazing and captures the mood I was hoping for the book. What do you think? 

The crow is a very strong image in the book, mystical and misunderstood; symbolic in the journey that you will take while reading the poems. 

The book itself is split into four individual parts, each one written in a different year of my life. You will meet ghosts and sirens of the sea; feel heartbreak and hope in equal measure, and learn that the eye and the heart see things in entirely different ways. I cannot wait to share it with you all. 

I will be flying out to the States later on this week to spend some well earned time with Heather. I will get to see the art for the first time in person too! When I return I will be sharing more updates with you all, including when you can get your hands on a copy of Other Silent Days. Until then enjoy the art and if you like what you see, please visit Heather’s site here https://heatherunderground.com where you can find out more about Heather and her art. 

Thanks for all your patience and support. Love to you all.

Phil xx
 

Who We Are

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This morning I have been reviewing my first draft of the new book, Other Silent Days. The poems in the book stretch as far back as 2012 through to the present day, covering various subjects.

With the current vile display of the worst side of human nature that is happening around the world at the hand of extremists, and the war mongering talk in the media and by the worlds politicians, I felt maybe it was time for reflection and inner peace. I came across the following poem and thought it was fitting to share today. I wrote it back in 2012. I hope it can resinate some hope in peace in your hearts. Peace.

Who We Are

I sought the stars for answers, 
The cosmology of truth; 
The origin of remembrance
In the vastness of our youth.

I found nothing there but deconstruction; 
The building blocks of life. 
I found no emotion in the void
Just the actualities implied.

No story to be told; 
No conclusion to be drawn; 
No scientific paper to write; 
No intellectual dawn.

Just faith in the knowledge
That we are more than the sum of our parts; 
There is hope in our existence
And the complexities of our hearts.

And we are altogether one
A symmetry of stardust –
A revolving mass of particles
Adrift in the darkness.

Despite all our differences
And varied points of view,
You are related to me
As I am to you.

And from a distance we are viewed
As just another lonely star
Flickering in the firmament
With someone wondering who we are.

Phillip Mellor from Other Silent Days (coming 2016)

Other Silent Days… After all the chops and changes the book…

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Working on my new poetry book this morning. 📖 I am amazed that after almost 4 years of writing these poems I can look upon them as if they were poems by another writer. I know I wrote them, yet here they are after all this time separate from me in someway. I am amazed and humbled I have been given this gift of creativity and communication. I so desperately want to share these things with the world, not to be famous or rich (although making enough money to be able to be a full time writer is the goal) but to bring joy, light and happiness to people. To offer emotional support to those out there that think they are alone. This will ensure my gift is not wasted. 
My work often explores the theme of love and often I look at the darker elements of life, the disappointments and heartaches. But out of all that comes faith, positivity, hope and love. Yes, I write first and foremost to please myself, but it is my hope that my work can provide hope and warmth to people who feel that they have none. That they are not alone in how they feel. 
Many of the poems in what is to be a large single volume of work have been shared to Facebook and other sites before. Some of you will have read them and even requested that they all be put in a book one day. Well they are being, and sometime next year you will, should you wish to, be able to own a copy of them. 
I feel very strongly that because a vast number of these poems have been shared before that they in someway belong to you as much as me. That is why I will be selling the book at cost. No profit will be taken by me from the sale of this book. I want as many of you as possible to be able to read and enjoy the work I have produced and hope that you will all come along with me as I take the next step in my writing career. There are many exciting projects I have the wish to participate in and I would love if those of you that feel a kinship to my work could enjoy the fruits of those projects too. 
Life for me has been a rough ocean these passed 4 years, though calm seas never made a great sailor, and I now see the sunrise and the promise of tranquil bays. I am so grateful for the challenges I have faced. So happy and thankful that I got to meet so many wonderful people along the way. I think the title of the book really captures my feeling on this time. It is to be called: Other Silent Days. 

You’ll Know Him

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Far across the desert 
Over the dusty cracking earth,

There is a man of legend 

Who lives a life of dearth. 

Inside his soul is hollow,

Devoid of love or light. 

His heart is pruned and withered 

And his blood runs black as night. 
His name I cannot speak it,

His look I can’t describe. 

But you’ll know him by the piercing

Daggers in his eyes. 

No man or maid dare wander

Into the hovel of his room. 

Inside he keeps such secrets

That no one should consume. 
I hear he lived a wondrous life

Had a wife and two fine kids.

But fatal fate had turned one day

And broke his love to bits. 

He turned his back to the sun

And wandered off the edge,

For years no one has seen him

But I just can’t forget. 
For I know him in the silent

And wounded on this road.

I’ve seen him in the eyes of those

Who’ve lost all self control. 

I’ve felt him move inside me

And whisper to me lies.

He runs in tear-like rivers

That pour forth from his disguise. 
So if you come to know him

Don’t look into his eyes,

Don’t sit down at his table

Or in his water you’ll baptise.

He’ll turn your soul to desert 

An arid desolate land. 

And you’ll too wear the scars

Of this broken bloodily man. 
So while I’ve got a voice to speak,

While there is hope within my heart.

I choose to spark a candle

That holds back his deadly dark. 

We all must learn to live here

Side by side with every man

And accept that there’s a balance 

In time’s silver shifting sands. 
Far across the desert

The wind it howls and moans. 

But devil’s cannot speak the names

Of things they can’t control. 
Phillip Mellor 2015