When they say “nothing in life is handed to you”
I’m going to call bullshit.
Here:
every small, pricking doubt I’ve cradled
like a haphazard stack of crockery.
You can take it.
Each shard was gifted to me
without asking.
It is long past time I found someone willing
to clear out the cupboards in my chest. 
See how well I have nursed them
how big some of them have grown?

‘It’s All In The Blood’ by Carol J Forrester available from Amazon on kindle and in paperback.

We come from sheep thieves and cattle rustlers…
We have learnt what is proper…
Streaking towards the bogland…

Packed with mythology, history, and powerful women, Carol J Forrester’s debut collection centres on family, ancient mythology, and womanhood in the twenty-first century. Zeus is spearfishing over Stranraer, Megera is standing her ground, and Jormungandr wants to consume everything. Exploring the complications of expectations, and how the past can shape who we are, this collection is an accumulation of thirteen years of poetry.

“The poems are vivid and confidently crafted…” Helen Kay (This Lexia & Other Languages V. Press)

“A bold, brutally honest and dazzling debut collection…” Deborah Edgeley (Testing The Delicates)

“Gentle and reflective with an underlying poignancy…” D. Peach (The Rose Shield Tetralogy)

“…teeming with poems coming to terms with Forrester’s strength of voice – a voice which sings with the clarity of a poetry capable of holding all of life…” Liz Lefroy (GREAT MASTER / small boy (2021) Fair Acre Press)