Emma is a mother and English teacher. She has poetry published with various literary journals and magazines. She enjoys writing flash fiction and short stories also. Emma won Wingless Dreamer’s Bird Poetry Contest of 2022 and her short story entitled “Virginia Creeper” was selected as a winning title by WriteFluence Singles Contest in 2021. Recently, she won Dipity Literary Magazine’s 2024 Best of the Net Nominations for Fiction with her short story entitled “The Voice of a Wildling.” [You can hear Emma read one of her poems “Feral Heart” in episode no. 127 of dipity’s Hummingbird Blink: Nectar Poetry podcast on Spotify].
The Unloved Coach House
Haunting clings to neglected panes,
forgetting time and abode.
Moss weaves fleshy meat
around willing, silent hosts;
tables become disused entities.
Vines drive hard into possessive soil,
hollering “It’s mine!”
The coach house stands abandoned:
human-free. Its owner old,
a dweller of smaller climes:
a flat in Portsmouth.
No history.
No known ghosts.
No backstory. Simple.
The bell stands passively
above the tiled, decaying roof
- no action now to its assemblage.
A wasted symbol of a time bygone -
a pointless relic.
Time-stained curtains cling
to window-frames: discoloured, frayed,
unnatural. White paint peels,
shedding like unwanted snakeskin
from ledges. Weather worn, fleeing...
A once thriving, human hubbub
shrinks obliviously into
overgrown plants, weeds.
They claim bricks, mortar
with possessive intent.
Brownish-green tinged stems
erupt from hidden cracks, crevices:
eager to stretch underused, unspent legs.
A freedom...
Windows smear, stained
from years of weather-beaten negligence;
eyes glisten weakly
with memories of fonder sights, views:
a new arrival;
a wedded couple;
a secret dalliance;
hushed, private voices entering
into its lair. Habitation throngs
from cavernous walls.
Horses recuperate, preen silky coats
readying for onward journeys;
steaming breaths form cloudy bubbles
in chilled nighttime air.
They whinny, stamp
with unnerved legs.
A sixth sense of otherness
that awaits their masters...
Unseen....
The coach house keeps
historical secrets
(locked) close to its
isolated self -
a warmth that radiates
in bleakest wintery abandonment.
Ghosts loom in the present,
hoping for hospitable guests
- a longing to perform
melancholy dances.
An utter need of captured humanity.
A reclaiming of the past.
A punishment lurks
in reflected glass
as I push my face uninvitedly
against the sullied panes.
A sinister grin is pleased to see me...
Q: What is the backstory of this poem?
I explored a little away from a holiday cottage when staying in Cornwall and came across an abandoned coaching inn. Post cluttered at the front door and no signs of life. I walked around the back of the property and put my face to the glass of what looked to be a kitchen. Unexpectedly and very frighteningly, a male face appeared in the glass windowpane. True story!
Q: What was your most recent publication?
My most recent publication is with Feminine Collective and it is a short story entitled “Box-bed." A story inspired by box-beds which were used in many Scandinavian countries in Victorian times (and before) in order to keep warm during harsh winter times.
Q: What are some of your fave publications (could be one of your own or a recommended read elsewhere?
Q: When did you begin writing? OR What or who sparked and inspired your writing journey?
I began writing in the summer of 2019. I experienced some emotional trauma and discovered, through poetry, a means to vent and express intangible and difficult feelings. From poems, grew flash fiction, short stories and then novels. I have recently completed my fourth novel and am in the planning stage with novel five. It will be set in the Orkney Islands and involves witchcraft. All of my novels are feminist in stance and feature a sisterhood or sisterly bond between women—in one form or another.
Q: What advice would you give aspiring poets, authors, or fellow writers in the community?
My advice is to accept that rejections are an integral, and needed, part of a writer’s life. You need lemons to make lemonade! Never give up: in a nutshell.
Q: What are you currently reading? OR What book(s) would you recommend to others right now?'
I am currently reading Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie partly because it’s currently Halloween season—my favourite time of year!
Q: What was the last movie or TV show you watched or recommend others see in the community?
The last programme I watched was The Bake Off with my husband. I’m not a baker or chef in any way but enjoy watching others create wondrous inventions out of chocolate and biscuits, etc.
Q: Which poets, artists, or writers inspire you?
Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Jennifer Saint, Elodie Harper, Bridget Collins, Anna Mazzola, and many more!
Q: If you were stuck on the moon with anyone or could pick your space flight partner who would it be ( it could be someone from the past or present time)?
I’d pick Marilyn Monroe to be my moon partner. Her life fascinates me, and I would love to ask her questions about how she really died, her life experiences, and how she thought and felt, etc. I have written about her in both poetry and short story format.
Snow Ghosts - Curse [Houndstooth]
*WARNING: video: has brief flashing streams of light
Q: What's one of your favorite poems in existence?
‘Lady Lazurus’ by Sylvia Plath. My favourite line: ‘And I eat men like air’—ingenious writing.
Lady Lazurus
I have done it again.
One year in every ten
I manage it——
A sort of walking miracle, my skin
Bright as a Nazi lampshade,
My right foot
A paperweight,
My face a featureless, fine
Jew linen.
Peel off the napkin
O my enemy.
Do I terrify?——
The nose, the eye pits, the full set of teeth?
The sour breath
Will vanish in a day.
Soon, soon the flesh
The grave cave ate will be
At home on me
And I a smiling woman.
I am only thirty.
And like the cat I have nine times to die.
This is Number Three.
What a trash
To annihilate each decade.
What a million filaments.
The peanut-crunching crowd
Shoves in to see
Them unwrap me hand and foot——
The big strip tease.
Gentlemen, ladies
These are my hands
My knees.
I may be skin and bone,
Nevertheless, I am the same, identical woman.
The first time it happened I was ten.
It was an accident.
The second time I meant
To last it out and not come back at all.
I rocked shut
As a seashell.
They had to call and call
And pick the worms off me like sticky pearls.
Dying
Is an art, like everything else.
I do it exceptionally well.
I do it so it feels like hell.
I do it so it feels real.
I guess you could say I’ve a call.
It’s easy enough to do it in a cell.
It’s easy enough to do it and stay put.
It’s the theatrical
Comeback in broad day
To the same place, the same face, the same brute
Amused shout:
‘A miracle!’
That knocks me out.
There is a charge
For the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge
For the hearing of my heart——
It really goes.
And there is a charge, a very large charge
For a word or a touch
Or a bit of blood
Or a piece of my hair or my clothes.
So, so, Herr Doktor.
So, Herr Enemy.
I am your opus,
I am your valuable,
The pure gold baby
That melts to a shriek.
I turn and burn.
Do not think I underestimate your great concern.
Ash, ash—
You poke and stir.
Flesh, bone, there is nothing there——
A cake of soap,
A wedding ring,
A gold filling.
Herr God, Herr Lucifer
Beware
Beware.
Out of the ash
I rise with my red hair
And I eat men like air.
Please Def Visit: Instagram and read some of her work linked above in this Q&A and online via search engine—you’ll come across a lot of Emma’s awesome poems and short stories. Also, remember to listen to episode no. 127 of dipity’s Hummingbird Blink: Nectar Poetry Spotify podcast and search/read a few of the publications Emma has as well published online through dipity too if you haven’t yet!
Please Def Follow: @ewellswriting
on Instagram
[Interview Processed By VFORROW]
Note: We choose one song for fun to pair with each Substack submission similar to our website’s online tank.
[Thank You Message From the Founder]:
Thank you so much Emma for taking the time to share about yourself through dipity’s Substack community spotlight! It’s always cool to see how places we visit or stumble across inspire our writes. My mom and I had been a long-time fan of The Bake Off aka The Great British Baking Show series and other past baking competition shows such as Cake Wars, Halloween Wars, and Zumbo's Just Desserts. I’ve done quite a bit of portrait sketch fan-art of past baker contestants on the show too for fun. I am not great at baking either besides muffins, walnut chocolate chip bread, and choc. chip cookies which sometimes turned into hockey pucks starting out. My folks love making pumpkin pie, sweet potato pies, bean pie, and a few others around the holidays. Though we don’t bake as much as we used to, I agree it’s fun and inspiring to see the creations from each challenge round ya!
~ Jazz Marie Kaur (Vevna Forrow)
We truly strive to share as many amazing writers of all ages as possible from around the world and carefully take the time to review all submissions. Please note it is incredibly hard to decline any. P.S. We may open this someday up to photographer and artist spotlights too—so stay tuned we have a few more release announcements, reminders, and updates coming your way very soon before the end of 2023 is the goal, and print issue no. 4 is at approximately 73% completion—we’re just waiting on a few more incoming items! A reminder that we’re undergoing staffing changes so response times will vary. To enter dipity’s fun community spotlight Q&A interviews and for more submission opportunities outside of our Substack visit: https://www.dipitylitmag.com/submit
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