Samantha Ledger is a poet and photographer currently living on the outskirts of London. She is the author of Everybody Else’s Girl, and her work has been featured in numerous publications including Up the Staircase, Heroin Love Songs, Osprey Journal, Luciole Press and ETC: A Review of General Semantics. Bells for Her is Ledger’s second collection of poetry.
Bells for Her by Samantha Ledger
“Ledger’s approach to abuse and the patriarchal
oppression of the feminine is never treated with pseudo-heroism or
self-victimisation; rather her poems are strikingly honest and
core-cutting, depicting love-hate relationships and painful ties. With
effective, emotive accuracy, Ledger bravely explores the scope of rage,
injustice, damage and sacrifice to appease and expiate the need of the
perpetrator as well as the masochism of the abused - something not many
have the courage to approach so openly.” - Petra Whiteley, author of The Nomads Trail and The Moulding of Seers
ISBN 978-0-9819984-5-9 122 pages $16.95 5.5"x8.5" perfect bound, paper
Do not include me in your wayward fondling. I was rampant beneath these sheets before your hands shifted towards my warmth. Swarming about a fragile frame - blame riddled bone shafts hollowed out until concave - overworked.
I am Electra.
I dance naked underneath the moon cold - blue skinned. Slimmed to starved I am consuming self centered cells - melded maligned to divinity. Your overwhelming urge to claim girls as your own blood floods my mouth
I am drowning.
Let me lay silent in your arms as you pander the ample curve of flesh. Beneath shallow breath I am leaving. Free, I shall slip from your embrace, with grace I shall leave.
I am your biology.
Bound with fists and flushed passion fashioned from Freud’s own text. Watch me I am burning - ash lifting into blood red skies, I am spread sprawling bawling spawning a multitude stillborn lies.
I am my own complex.
I am Electra.
Reviews
“What is immediately noticeable when reading Bells for Her is its unflinching intimacy. Equal parts warm and torturous, tender then disturbed, it encompasses the full gamut of contemporary life and human emotions. Bells for Her is the poetic equivalent of a woman laid bare, beckoning you with all her power.” - A.D. Hitchin, author of Holy Hermaphrodite
Samantha Ledger is a poet and photographer currently living on the outskirts of London. She is the author of Everybody Else’s Girl, and her work has been featured in numerous publications including Up the Staircase, Heroin Love Songs, Osprey Journal, Luciole Press and ETC: A Review of General Semantics. Bells for Her is Ledger’s second collection of poetry. 