Things can’t go wrong if you have a plan, right? Ellessy Porter has everything planned out for her and her best friend, Lilah. Go to college, focus on school, don’t fall in love, graduate, get jobs, and then start on their “happily ever afters”. But things change when Ellessy wakes up in the hospital to discover that Lilah is gone, her mother is in a coma, and the car accident they were in also left her with life-altering injuries. After having to make the difficult decision to invite her estranged aunt into her home, Ellessy’s new plans are glaringly simple: get better before Mom wakes up and finds her there. Oh, and maybe don’t fall for the cute guy who took her place at work. Love definitely isn’t in the plans now.
In this collection of poems, Hayley B Halliwell dives deep into current events, covering topics such as voter suppression, LGBTQIA+ rights, the economy, education, racism, and domestic violence. Her passion for these topics and her stance on them is evident in her words, and the timing of this book is no coincidence.
“So much of what I wrote here has been so heavy on my heart,” she says of Picket Fence Signs, “I truly feel like this is one of the most important collections I’ve ever written.”
The entirety of this collection of poems should be considered a CW. Almost every poem covers a controversial or difficult topic, and might be a trigger for anyone with trauma in their past.
Hayley B Halliwell continues her poetry endeavors with her second book, Flavors of Weird. In this collection, she gives us a variety of poems written during her teenage years and early twenties, poems about love and heartache, about depression and joy, about deep thoughts and nonsense. You can truly see her talent for poetry doesn’t rest in only one style, and just as was evident in her previous book, Hayley writes with her heart and soul in her hand.
Hayley B Halliwell’s debut book and poetry collection is inspired by the emotions and traumas she experienced. Garden Your Soul takes you on a journey through her writing that spans years of heartache and growth, touching on themes of grief, depression, mental illness, love, loss, and learning how to pick up the pieces.