Still

By Laura Ding-Edwards

STILL

Still is the second poetry collection from Laura Ding-Edwards (The Mountain) and further explores navigating mental health, friendship, love, motherhood & more. 

The simple, flowing style of poetry is easy to read, relate to, and helps to put into words both the complex and mund

• Language: English
• Publisher: That Guy's House
• Release date: Sep 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9781914447228

Laura Ding-Edwards

Laura Ding-Edwards is an artist and writer from Herefordshire, UK. She started her business, Rainbird Roots, in 2016 and quickly went from painting as a hobby to full-time artist, commissioning pet portraits, unique wildlife artwork & typography pieces. The Rainbird Roots brand name comes from her mother's beautiful maiden name of "Rainbird". You can see Laura's artwork by visiting www.rainbirdroots.com. Her first poem, The Mountain, was written in a car back in January 2019 and details her experiences of living with anxiety. It rapidly gained momentum on social media, having had millions of views and shares across the world. From this, more poems were written and eventually The Mountain book was born. Laura currently lives with her husband, Ronnie, and continues to write and paint alongside spending time with her two horses, Bess and Chester, whom she credits with being the source of her most peaceful moments in life.

Book preview

FOREWORD

Thanks for being here with me for my second book, the follow up to The Mountain.

I can’t believe I am fortunate enough to be releasing a second collection of poetry and I hope you enjoy it, or at least that it evokes some emotion

This collection still has the usual themes of mental health, self love, the best and worst of human beings, but it also incorporates my new role of becoming a Mum and also a little of the craziness of the last year or two as a whole.

This year especially has been a huge eye opener for many of us and I’m sure we could all write a book about our experiences in 2020, so I hope that some of what I’ve captured relates to your feelings, or gives you an insight into how others have viewed it.

I hope you have the space and time to sit and absorb the words I’ve written & enjoy them as much as I’ve enjoyed creating them for you.

With love,

Laura

Poetry

The Middle

You may not be the prettiest

You might not be the best

You don’t have all the clothes and shoes

Or makeup like the rest

You might not win on sports day

Or ever get picked first

You’re not the fastest runner

But you’re also not the worst

You might not get the A stars

Or the headteacher’s award

Sometimes you thrive in classrooms

Other days you’re super bored

You’re the middle ground, an in-between

You’re neither first or last

Not party to the popular

Nor a singular outcast

You’re schooldays aren’t a living hell

You survive with means and ways

You wouldn’t say they’re awful

But they’re not your best of days

Because those days are still to come

Not everyone will thrive

The academic mainstream

It’s after this you’ll come alive

You’ll find the people just like you

The ones who don’t quite fit

The confines of the playground

And everything that comes with it

Til then believe me when I say

Your life is not just school

You’ll flourish on the other side

And it won’t matter if you’re