When
I became a part of the RDSP family last year, my first job as Poetry Editor was
to get in touch with Stephen Wilson about a manuscript that he had recently
submitted to us. I was very excited to have the opportunity to work with Stephen,
for I had recently read his collaborative work with Linda D. Addison, Dark Duet, and was blown away. I couldn’t
get the email out fast enough.
The
more Stephen and I talked about the collection, the more I realized that he was
just as beautiful as the poems he wrote. Despite his illness, he was always
upbeat, excited, and working with me on edits, artwork, and ideas. We talked about
style, theme, and most importantly, what the collection meant to him: it was a
way to handle, to fight, and to accept the darkness. And he did all of that through making
good art.
Stephen
was so passionate about this project, and his drive and excitement made working
with him a true blessing. He found a way to showcase the light, no matter how
dim or brief in its passing, and he did that through poetry.
And
it’s that drive, that power, that transformation that defines the craft. It’s
about battling demons, both real and imaginary, and finding beauty in the good, and
in the bad. Poetry isn’t something that is just read. It’s something that’s
felt, something that’s experienced. When you read good poetry, it’s almost like
falling in love because it stays with you. It changes you.
So
I invite you, as an editor, a poet, and a fan, to pick up Stephen M. Wilson’s
collection, Kicking Against the Pricks.
It’s a little slice of heaven, a little slice of hell, and everything in
between that is all light, dark, and beautiful.
--Stephanie
M. Wytovich
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