‘Waiting for a Change’ by Sara Butler

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I was privileged to attend a beautiful evening of poetry in the city of Wells a few weeks back, namely the launch of Sara Butler’s collection, ‘Waiting for a Change’.


The evening was hosted by Ama Bolton and Morag Kiziewicz, two members of the highly respected Wells Fountain Poets, in which Sara was also a regular participant until ill health stopped her. It was Ama and Mo who gathered together Sara’s poems, arranged them and produced this book.

I have a personal stake in this collection, because Sara was also a valued member of one of The Leaping Word’s poetry groups, and I’ve longed to hold a book of her poems in my hands for years. Now, thanks to Ama and Mo, that dream has come true. This book really is an act of love.

‘Waiting for a Change’ is available from bookshops, or – if you must – Amazon; ISBN 978-1-914398-15-5. Someone called Deborah Harvey has this to say about it:

‘A love for nature infuses these poems, though it’s never romanticised, Sara having both an eye and an ear for the dark and the all-too-human. And there’s always the laughing ‘yes’, and sexiness, and a desire for something better, which is found and made real in these poems.’

Learning Finity

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Here at the Leaping Word, we’re delighted to announce that Deborah’s new collection, Learning Finity, is to be published on 14th March.

Learning Finity is Deborah’s fifth poetry collection, and is published by Ronnie Goodyer and Dawn Bauling of Indigo Dreams Publishing. Many of the poems are set in Deb’s native city of Bristol, and explore the themes of mythic time and how stories appear to repeat themselves:

How much of the past, its people and memories, stay imprinted on the landscape? Are the trees lining the nave of a bombed-out church busy rebuilding it? And does the valerian that thrusts through cracks in walls on streets climbing from the city centre remember when the hillside was woodland called Fockynggrove, rising beyond the city walls and a very well frequented spot indeed? Yes, everything is mutable, but stories persist.

Learning Finity can be ordered now from the Indigo Dreams website or directly from Deb at admin@theleapingword.com. Please follow Deb on Facebook and Twitter for news about forthcoming real life and Zoom launches.

Introducing a specialist counselling service for writers and artists

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The Leaping Word is delighted to announce a specialist counselling service for writers and artists, delivered by our own Colin Brown.

This service is primarily intended for those engaging with personal experience through their work. Counselling support can be sought in relation to specific issues that are being explored, or the feelings engendered by such exploration. Or maybe you are struggling with issues of privacy – both yours and that of people who feature in your work. Perhaps you need to consider how to exercise self-care whilst turning your experiences into art.

And of course, Colin also offers more general counselling for anyone who seeks it, regardless of how they express their creativity. His areas of special interest include bereavement, domestic abuse, emotional regulation, estrangement, anxiety, identity issues, long-term health conditions, loss and grief, low self-esteem, narcissistic abuse, relationships, suicidal thoughts, trauma, victims of crime, and work and career issues.

For more details, please see Colin’s counselling website, Longships Counselling.