Kickstarter “Fallen”

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For two years I have been working on my third poetry book “Fallen”. It’s 85 pages long and has 47 select poems written between the years 2014-2016. The book block is finished, the cover is designed, one print copy in hand. The book was set to release Spring 2017. However, I was laid off from work mid-December 2016 and the funds to get it printed are no longer available. I am asking for the printing costs $280. This will cover the KICKSTARTER fees, tax and the printing of 25 books from a local press. My first reading feature is scheduled for June 29th in Everett, WA. I need to have books to sell at this reading. Please consider a donation. Every little bit will help.

The Kickstarter ends May 31, 2017

WHY “FALLEN”

I’ve been writing poetry since 2009. I paid for the printing of the previous two books, “Madrona Grove” 2012, “Odd Little Things” 2014, at an independent press. Both were released with moderate fanfare. What makes “Fallen” special is that in 2016 I challenged myself to write about the loss of my daughter. She would have turned 25 in 2016. Poetry is a good friend to me. It helps me to define emotion, understand a complex system, helps me to view the world. I asked myself, “WHY haven’t you written any poetry about THAT night?” So, I started writing.

My mother, a retired counselor, teachers a “Loss and Grief” class at her church located a half hour south of Seattle, WA. She has shared a handful of my poetry as an aide to her mourning students. Her students are encouraged to use the poems as an example to start their own poems or prose. This gives voice to their lamentations, which is an important step in the grieving process.

REVIEWS

Earlier this year when my editor Mary Gillilan and I were working on the cover, I sent an advanced reading to a few established Northwest poets for cover blurbs. Here is what they had to share:

“With Fallen, Shannon Laws has evolved into someone that readers in the northwest should pay attention to. Like a complex pantomime, Laws’ charming, conversational lyric style hides poems that are personal yet complex, dark, intense, deep, heartbreaking, and at times hilarious. Each of them also have a subtle grit and seriousness to them. Like all poets worth their salt, she doesn’t the dichotomy of being particular and speaking to many audiences. Highly, highly recommended.”
–Robert Lashley, author of The Homeboy Songs

Shannon Laws has been, in many ways, an asset to her community. This book demonstrates that “there’s a revelation flowing…along the ridges of her galaxy.” She employs “footholds of green” to “take our minds to another place.” Shannon Laws is top-niche.
–James Bertolino, author of Ravenous Bliss: New & Selected Love Poems

“Shannon Laws’ poems are ventures, many journeys of the mind and imagination and others literal walks, day and night, to and from home, work, and school; they render fresh observations of the routine and familiar: interactions in kitchen and living quarters, fields of local plants and critters, the hum of machinery. They also probe the mysteries of the human condition, posing elemental issues: love and death and loss, the aching solitariness of human experience, the straining for meaning, clarity and confirmation, the yearning for contact and connection, and the guises humans adopt in the consequent interchange.”
—Ron Leatherbarrow, Professor of Literature, Whatcom Community College

“Shannon Law’s poetry entices the reader along a windy path of shared emotion, at times tiptoeing gently toward the topic, at others racing headlong toward it, and at times inviting humor in. The mix is wonderful. From that girl in school who builds forts, to the new owner of a used mattress who sleeps in the body-shaped dip left by its prior occupant, to a three-timing lover, to the loss of a child, these poems circumscribe a relatable life and invite introspection. It is nearly impossible to pick just one favorite from this gem of a book.”
—Laurel Leigh, author of the blog Dear Writers

“In “ Fallen”, Shannon Laws has written polished and evocative poetry that intrigues the reader page after page, often demanding one backs-up and re-reads. Her metaphorical language is usually of common words that she newly loads with much information…
I challenge you to find our own favourite poems with lines that you will remember in admiration and repeat to others. She is a master of bringing significant life changes alive with pain or passion in a few well chosen words! ”
—Bernice Lever, “Small Acts”, Black Moss Press, Windsor, ON, Canada

This poetry is not camera-shy. Full of imagery and emotion, it ranges across the days with bursts of action and reflection. Laws writes of quiet eroticism, as well as memory and humor from the north Pacific region, where she has lived most of her life. Shannon P. Laws has gifts of observation, humanity, and powerful expression. A valuable choice for poetry lovers, who will find it natural to read and understand.
——Denise DuMaurier, author of Follow Me Down

I’d like to take my book on tour, share, listen, laugh, cry and hug folks along the way. After I print the initial 25 books and test it on a small local tour, I’m going to transfer the book to a print-on-demand site offered through a well-known independent bookstore located in the historic district of Fairhaven in Bellingham, Washington.
Help me do it!

Thank you