Description
About ‘Surviving Death’ by Kyla Houbolt
This remarkable collection of poetry, skillfully curated by Editor-in-Chief Alan Parry, represents the latest literary offering from The Broken Spine.
‘Surviving Death’ is an evocative journey through the realms of life, death, and the human experience. With eloquent verses, Houbolt weaves a tapestry of emotions, inviting readers to explore the intricacies of existence. Each poem captures a fleeting moment, revealing the profound beauty and subtle enigmas that surround us.
From the delicate dance of moonlight on rippling waters to the whispered secrets of ancient forests and the ethereal flight of butterflies, these poems celebrate the ordinary and elevate it to the extraordinary. Through vivid imagery and poetic language, this collection delves into the deep connections between the natural world, memory, and our shared humanity.
As you delve into these pages, you will be transported to the shifting landscapes of human emotions, the hidden truths of twilight, and the timeless melodies of life itself. Houbolt’s remarkable ability to find wonder in the mundane will lead you to moments of introspection and wonder.
‘Surviving Death’ serves as a powerful reminder to pause and appreciate the often-overlooked nuances of life. Whether you are a poetry enthusiast or simply seeking a deeper connection with the world around you, this collection offers a rich tapestry of words that will leave you inspired and spellbound.
Author Bio: Kyla Houbolt
Kyla Houbolt is a poet whose words resonate with the echoes of life’s profound mysteries and everyday wonders. Her literary journey began in 2019, and since then, she has carved a path of poetic exploration that captivates readers.
Kyla’s poetic craftsmanship has resulted in multiple published works, showcasing her ability to convey the essence of the human experience with eloquence and grace. Her first chapbook, “Dawn’s Fool,” was brought to life by Ice Floe Press, followed by “Tuned,” published by CCCP Chapbooks + Subpress. Now, with “Surviving Death,” Kyla Houbolt continues to delve into the depths of existence, offering readers a profound and transformative journey through her evocative verses.
Her poetry has graced the pages of numerous publications, including Sublunary Review, Barren, Janus, Juke Joint, Moist, Neologism, Ghost City Review, and Stone Circle Review. Kyla’s words have the power to transport readers to worlds both real and surreal, urging them to contemplate the intricate tapestry of life, death, love, and the human spirit.
Kyla Houbolt’s poetry is a testament to the enduring magic of words, inviting readers to find solace and inspiration in the beauty of language. Her work serves as a reminder that even in the ordinary, there exists a world of extraordinary wonder waiting to be discovered.
Advanced Praise
‘Houbolt is a poet with a rare gift for insight, and she hands it to us smiling, at once wry and tender and always with an intuitive wisdom that feels personal and very real. To fall into step with her work, with its delighted reverence for the intimate detail and mess of the world, the natural world and its overlap with what humans wreak, and our own internal navigation, is to forget you’re reading poetry at all. Her works are creatures far too busy living, out there in the sun and rain with skin humming and eyes open, to be aware that they’re on a page, and it’s this sense of brimming-aliveness that we carry away from any encounter with her skill. The generosity of spirit inside turns of phrase that make simple language build new images and lateral perspective is infectious and inviting, and every poem turns the stone to reveal a small and perfect surprise. Magic beneath in common places, in the infinite drive, in the human desire to hope that is the invisible engine powering all she writes. …. You cannot read this poet and walk back into the mundane unchanged, untouched by an awareness that everything you do, every interaction you have with the world, is a spell that gives and takes. That everything is transient and precarious and yet everything endures. Houbolt’s deceptively deep refrains are a recipe for interaction with a world that pushes back but cannot take us down, and an antidote for the bitterness when it’s tried…..’
Ankh Spice, author of The Water Engine
‘Kyla Houbolt’s poems wouldabeen so punk 40 years ago.
30 years ago Kyla’s collection, Surviving Death, would have crowned the Goth World. Never emo; dear God, never that. The poems in Surviving Death never foam from the trite or the emotionally derivative; and though her poems stalk death they are never haunted, shunted, or stunted by it. This collection pulls back the shroud of death, but not for the sake of being poetically macabre. Kyla Houbolt examines the fabrics of existence simply to ask it, “is that what you’re wearing out tonight?” With Surviving Death, on the backside of our tombstones Kyla Houboult sits, planting foamflowers, and embracing Life in every stanza.’
upfromsumdirt, author of Deifying A Total Darkness
‘Houbolt writes poems that carry the weight of myth: they seem to straddle worlds. In language that is clear and precise, Houbolt presents compactly fashioned narratives, lyrics, fever dreams, protests, encounters, confessions, declarations, musings, admissions of guilt and statements of wonder. To read a Houbolt poem is, at times, to contemplate a mystery for which one has no words yet feels an undeniable knowledge deep inside a familiar evocation. Let’s assert: these poems by Houbolt are what all poems aspire to be but seldom are: unflinching, brave, elegant, and honest. Their eyes look directly into your own.’
Jon Cone, author of New Year Begun
‘Kyla’s poems aren’t lengthy but they are, like a Time Lord’s Tardis, so much bigger on the inside. This collection has an urgency which is packed with the most startling juxtapositions. The one poem, Fruit, contains the lines, The dancer lifts her leg/high in the air./The dog only lifts his/so far. Two images not many of us would think as an obvious pairing and the impact is thrilling. These poems give you much to reflect upon. They are invitations to a conversation. They leave you with questions. They muse upon how we live in the presence of death, how we live without destroying nature. There is an incisive wit to this writing. In the poem, Bones, the bones of the dead ask to be remembered but then one asks something different, Can you take this arm bone and make a flute please? That’s precisely what Kyla has done in this powerful collection.’
Beth Brooke, author of A Landscape With Birds