Beyond the Glass

After a solid seven-year case of writer's block, poet L.L. Barkat decided to write a 30-Day Challenge. The challenge was offered on Substack by The Write to Poetry. The result? Beyond the Glass: Poems.

If you take anything from Beyond the Glass, the poet hopes it will be this: you can make it through. The poems themselves are testament to life's surprising turns; they look both backwards and forwards, with the realization that it is art that holds us (or can). What else holds us? The love of those we choose to surround ourselves with, whether from past or present.

All thirty prompts are included at the back of the collection, so you can use them, too-compliments of The Write to Poetry.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prelude A Bonus Poem Before We Begin Sparrow Beyond the Glass The 30 Poems 1-sparrow 2-would 3-Night 4-Writing to the "Favorite Hot Drink" Prompt 5-After a Collage by Catherine Abbey Hodges 6-First Memory, Cherished 7-Despereaux, Darling 8-Salary 9-The Big Red Heart Box 10-Ford Torino 11-Father Fashion 12-Titania's Note Left by the Door, Photocopied by Oberon 13-Giveaway 14-Plaint 15-After Emily 16-Cut 17-1930s Bedroom Closet 18-Grand Jury 19-Secrets (Yours) 20-Sloansville II 21- To the Road That Intersects Corbin Hill, Where a Corner Store Sold Orange Creamsicles (Which I Loved) 22-Avatar 23-Lessons in Glass 24-Photograph: Aruba, 1938 25-Twins with My Sister's Steel Grey 26-Repair Woman 27-Paris to London, 1992 28-To Earth 29-Garnet 30-The Spice Carousel The 30 Prompts