“I feel as if I’m growing back into myself, filling out my body, shaking out my arms and legs and realising I still fit into this skin. And the lights in the bar we always drink at seem hazier as I wander by, wrapped up in a warm breeze from an earth that sometimes seems like it can be soft enough to look after me.”

A lil piece I wrote earlier this month that sums up how September has been. I’ve felt like I’ve been in control of my mental health far more than I have been in years. I had the last of my therapy sessions in an odd but wonderful little building in Ancoats. I hosted the first event for the collective I founded, Ignis – an evening of poetry in the park under golden sun and candle light. I started my third year of university, got my first week of going to 100% of my lectures and seminars, spoke in welcome week talks and got to start a module on my favourite poet. There’s been so much that felt impossible for so long, so much that felt like it was out of my grasp for good and so many parts of myself I’d forgotten even existed. It feels like a small miracle knowing I’m not just “getting through” each day. I’ve also begun work an exciting new project – another writing collection but without the self consciousness of the last….  “The Trapped Mermaid” is a collection of poetry, fragments and short stories, the cover of which you can find below.

Cover illustration by Jassi Ganacias.