I’m delighted to welcome poet, Jamie Woods, to Patricia’s Pen. Jamie has come along to blog about his debut poetry collection Rebel Blood Cells. Without further ado, it’s over to Jamie.
Rebel Blood Cells
Jamie Woods
Thanks for having me on your site to talk about my new /debut poetry pamphlet Rebel Blood Cells. Quite a lot of people have said it’s “not an easy read” which is understandable. Not because of the obscure and obtuse use of metaphor or punctuation, but because of the subject matter: cancer and PTSD. Unfortunately, it wasn’t an easy book to write either. I’d much prefer a world where I just carried on wanting to be a writer but not actually writing.
Over the years I’ve had the kind of relationship with writing poetry that you might find in a romcom: brief encounters, a little bit of flirting, staring deep into the eyes and about to lock lips but then get interrupted, oh no there’s a misunderstanding, until finally, finally, something huge and momentous happens and then they kiss and it’s happily ever after.
For me that something huge and momentous was a rare and dangerous form of blood cancer – Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia.
The whole experience was a dizzy blur of a fever dream – both figuratively and literally. I could hardly see, could hardly understand what was happening, I was so very ill and it all happened so quickly. As I started to get better, I tried to write to comprehend what I’d been through. Trauma therapy, late night tearful conversations with my wife, going through my hospital notebooks to find those pockets of clarity I’d scribbled down, all contributing to create a record of sorts.
This record naturally became poems, and I was able to use the writing and editing process as a form of catharsis and self-expression, because poetry exists in those grey areas, the blank spaces, between the lines and just off the page. My poems were conversations, with myself, my wife, my therapist, a fictional god. None of my experience was black and white. Sometimes I craved the sanctuary of my hospital bed, sometimes I wanted to run away and go… well, anywhere. Sometimes I just didn’t have the energy or willingness to take another round of chemo or whatever drugs they were pumping into me.
I learned a lot about myself, my illness, and the cancer community in putting together this collection. Not every cancer patient is the same – some love to ring the bell to end their treatment, an idea that repulsed me. It turns out I wasn’t alone in feeling this way either, when one of the first poems from Rebel Blood Cells ‘Ring the Bell’ was commended in the Hippocrates Prize and then shared on Twitter by a prominent cancer account.
While the book contains my cancer and my PTSD, it also is home to my heart and my soul, and overall, hope. The hope that may or may not exist, but you cling to anyway. I was lucky enough to make it through, and everyday I am so grateful. Although survivors guilt tends to pop up from time to time. I wish I didn’t have to write it. But I did, and I hope that it gives others comfort and understanding into situations like this.
About Jamie Woods
Jamie Woods is a writer based in Swansea, south Wales. His poetry has been included in Poetry Wales, iamb, Lucent Dreaming, Ink Sweat & Tears and more. All profits from his debut pamphlet Rebel Blood Cells go to the charity Leukaemia Care where he volunteers as ‘poet-in-residence’.
Links
A limited number of signed copies, with badges and bookmark can be purchased from the following link
Punkdust.com
BUY from Amazon
Patricia M Osborne 