JL NASH
Poet, Author, Columnist, Editor
About JL
Everything and anything from Haiku to Essays and all in-between. See my publications below with extracts of my work and check out my blog for my column articles with Ipinion Syndicate. My newest publication is being part of the anthology Tea-Ku!
BIO
Currently a columnist for Ipinion Syndicate (USA), has also published articles, poetry and short stories. 2001 - International Cricketer, poetry; 2002 – International Cricketer, poetry; 2003 – Richmond Review (USA) Poetry; 2005 – Marshall Islands Literary Review, poetry; 2006 – Paranoia (UK) poetry and flash fiction; 2006 – Zygote In My Coffee – Flash Fiction; 2006 – Scintilla, poetry; 2007 – Red Bubble, poetry, 2009 –2018 The Pandorian Arts Magazine, Features Editor and contributor of poetry and flash fiction; 2011 – A Moment, Solo poetry Publication (Amazon); 2011 – Eden’s Other Daughter, Poetry (Pandorian Publishing); 2012 – Beneath The Shadows The Soul Walks, short stories and photography with P. Pajdic (Pandorian Publishing); Performance Poet; Tropical Writers 2019-2018; 2019 - The Poets’ Breakfast, TFF and Fringe Poetry 2019 TFF.; 2019 - Blink-Ink #38; FlashFiction. 2020 - Turnpike Magazine, Poetry. 2021 - Memoir, a chapbook. 2021 Tea-Ku, Poems about Tea, 2021-The Purposeful Mayonnaise
Tea-Ku
Poetry and Tea have always gone well together. A little meditation while relaxing, pondering a great poem over the perfect cup of brewed leaves. This anthology of over 70 poets is made up of Haiku (Haikai) all about the favorite beverage!
“Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind, is written large in his works.”
Virginia Woolf
Publications
A Moment
Excerpt from: A Moment
"An eyeball moves upward, sweat accumulates between the lashes on the lower lid
A scintilla of light catches the iris
John told the boy that he used to collect human tears before he lost his sight
Now he touches faces weeping at the loss
I ask my father for photographs of him so I can picture his face when I am far from home
He gives me two brain scans"
This is JL Nash’s first solo publication and it takes poetry out of the academic’s hand and firmly places it back in the narrative of everyday life. Drawing inspiration from Pacific Islands, ghosts of dogs and lots of holes, she addresses love, lust and happiness with a measured sprinkling of the darker bits of life too. Fun and moving, a great range of life’s tidbits to feed on.
Eden’s Other Daughter
Excerpt from: Love Song For Lisa
“The hibiscus bush outside my front door
Only flowers on occasion
I've looked and asked
But still I can't see
You see
During the night
Some months ago
In full view of all but me
Under that pacific moon
To the sounds of that laplap ocean
A group of onlookers
Cut into this ant hotel”
“She creates her own brand of poetry with an idiosyncratic, sui generis voice. It’s free verse poetry fertilized with a rich imagination and a discreet mastery of the English language ....to place a magnifying glass over the minutiae of life and help the reader access vistas that are not visible to the naked eye; Suddenly the dark ocean is populated with a multitude of glow-in-the-dark life forms”
Extract from review © A C Pasolini Nov 2011
Ephesia Grammata
Once exhibited as a work of art, Ephesia Grammata [2011] or the Book of Spells features handwritten calligraphy, original texts and illustrations. It contains modern English and an amalgamation language developed specifically for this project which hails from Anglo-Saxon, Middle English, Greek, Latin and the imagination of the writer. The language has structure, form and tenses. Its syntax conveys the energy and magic of meaning, translated through the Modern English calligraphy on over-leafs within the handmade book. In a time when language is ever-changing and developing, this installation infuses old words with ancient human desires and needs through the spells of the incantations.
The book is illustrated by Predrag Pajdic.
Bookbinding and cover by Edward Stansell of Craft Bookbinding Co.
Bubblin’ Brown Sugar Anthology- the ebook
Love inspired short stories and poems
edited by Kimberly T. Matthews.
Quiet Love
"When I turn to you in the night
To speak of flowers and the perfume
that drips from them onto the kitchen
table and how much I love you for
thinking of me and the choc’late
mouse you brought home to calm my upset
heart and how I need you every day
and of the book for which I searched
that you found and paid twenty-five pence
to release words of passion to me
and how I want you each time I smell
your skin and of the music you play
to help me sleep in times of torment
and how the sound of your voice soothes me
I watch
kiss your bare shoulder blade
and let you sleep"
Blink-Ink Issue#38 True Crime
Bang Bang Bang! Three shots rang out and I sent in my best “True Crime” story of 50 words. Not Ripped from the headlines, not from this decade anyway and although not noir, definitely something stylish, against the law and macabre.
Of John Turner
"Presenting as divorced and financially stable, he was tall, handsome and rigged like a cowboy. Flirting and sexual role play were offered to many. His rehearsed responses and ultimate demands were binary It’s known that only one turned him down. In Kansas it’s hard to count women who disappear online."
Chunky Monkey Guide to Weight Loss
"I loved every piece of it! and I had tears in my eyes ...as you described your story and the light!
Guys do yourself some favour support the eBook and tell all of your friends about it. It is amazing!!"
"I am loving your book Jane, and I cannot wait for you to write another I have never enjoyed reading so much ...I can relate I suppose."
"I really encourage everyone to purchase this book if you are serious about weight loss. Since meeting Jane the Author my life has changed for good and since March this year I have lost 19kg and still going strong. Lots of weight loss tips in this book."
"Been reading this book, loving it so much I fell asleep reading it last night. I recommend this book to anyone struggling with weight loss, if you have wasted your time trying all the bullshit and you're ready for something real and achievable I want you to get this book :)"
Beneath The Shadows The Soul Walks
This book challenges current trends and rewards the time taken to peruse the images and read the texts as it celebrates the loveliness in everyone, at all ages, gender, style, type and appearance. Over 70 subjects have been photographed and they range from ages 10 to 84. What is presented are the purest of naked souls echoed in the faces and bodies of some of the most extraordinary people from across U.S.A., Europe and Asia taken over the period of a year to catch all seasons. A key moment for the timing of the photographs taken was dawn or dusk; a time when the human subconscious rises to the forefront in an almost dream state, just waking or about to sleep.
It is at this magical instant we are able, as humans to penetrate our most vulnerable and innocent emotions. It is a time of great understanding and wisdom, a moment of the opening or closing of flowers, the birth or death of butterflies. 100 of the most intense and exceptional visions from exotic locations spanning deserts, mountains, waterfalls and lakes have been hand selected from about 50,000 taken. Each subject was chosen because of their kindness and compassion in their lives, the purity of the authentic soul and the resulting grace as captured is a manifestation of the essence of each of these astonishingly humble ordinary people. Images call deep into the window of expression to create a new beginning, a marker for what is now stripped, vulnerable, raw and honest.
Lingering Whispers
Look, out of the shadows, deep into the wellsI created in your eyes when they were emptyNever to speak of the smell ofGreed, or hope thatEchoes of bright crocuses used in the smeltingRituals of all that celluloidI have forgotten where it wentNow, left behind are traces of cottonGinger hair in a brush and an empty bottleWanting this posy I stepped back into the shadowHow your body reeked with my storyInstant gratification in my own existenceSlid down through the fastening of myPants, and all that was left, was a wordEtchedRun
Paranoia
This was the accompanying book to the Paranoia Exhibition at the Freud Museum, London 10 January 2006 to 11 March 2007. It features one of my short stories and two poems.
Frail
January edition 2020
Frail
"She has learned to live with
The imperfections of life
Leaves crackle underfoot
From rain they tempt the crack
Of bones, aluminium frame creates
A space of safety so much
Smaller than before
Her weakness bestowed
My grandmother forgets herself
As a carer washes her back
Looks forward to my phone call
She wipes her chin on speaking
The remnants of a stroke
How strange such a violent occurrence
Uses the same word as a loving touch"
Memoir
This competition winning chapbook offers a brief look in poetry at some key moments in the poet’s life.
Paper Dolls
Paper Dolls is an innovative book. A combination of Short Stories, Flash Fiction and Poetry all focused around a variety of beautiful pinups. They are accompanied by the superb artwork of Gianluca Bernardini
Firstly, I fell in love with ‘Sakura’. Secondly I wanted to give these gorgeous beauties an extra dimension of life that perhaps, was hidden from view and thereon, their stories began to whisper and eventually howl into the darkness of night until I stopped sleeping to note them down for lighter moments of record. They demanded depth of emotion and the complications of life that they all hid beneath their cheeky, provocative positions. Printed out and stuck on a wall in my study, I believed in them and felt honour-bound to write a bit of their life for all to see. It’s not always happy and sometimes it’s not about them completely but they all live in their story or poem. I’ve loved getting to know these women and hope that you will come to love them too.
Excerpt from: Zen and the Art of Pingpong
"
As the conversation depended on the syntax of one, relative to the other, the decision bent around the camp-fire until the pigs had all been sold and there was harmony in the Buddhist heart of the richest woman in the village, no longer sending her herd to slaughter.
"
The Purposeful Mayonnaise
This edition of the Literary and Art Journal, The Purposeful Mayonnaise, features the poem ‘Each time You Spit’.