Lorna Rose

I am a published poet and novelist. My first collection was published through Verve Poetry Press and all subsequent releases through Tenebrous Texts.

Caterpillar Soup

A potent mix of candid confession, self deprecating humour and aching vulnerability, Lorna Rose’s debut collection is twenty years in the making. In it she explores coming of age to the devils best tunes, the tangled mess of grief, the game changing release of a long overdue sexual awakening and the freedom that comes with finally speaking your truth. Finding calm in the storm through grooming horses, self acceptance through a kiss with a stranger and oneness with the cosmos on a wild swim, these poems tap into the transformative power of desire, trauma and spiritual connection.

Including work from three autobiographical solo shows: ‘Brazen’ a love letter to Jim Morrison and The Doors; ‘NO ENTRY!’ about a very common yet rarely discussed psychosexual condition called Vaginismus and ‘A Virgins Guide to Hiring an Escort’, exploring the joys and complexities of hiring a lover. Unflinching in their breaking down and remaking of the self, the poems chart several periods of intense metamorphosis.

‘A distinct voice. An elemental force. Brave. Bold. Brazen and Beautiful.'' Emma Purshouse

‘A poet of tremendous wit and range, as at home with the fantastical as she is with the familiar.’ Jo Bell

All the Colours of the Night

Shameless nature worship, exquisite dissections of desire, a waitress at the end of the world, Lorna Rose’s second collection has her trademark candid style, luminous explorations of the connections between the earthly and the spiritual and homage’s to the artists who have continued to inspire her.

Medieval she-wolves, lonely hotel rooms full of ghosts, a cacophony of birds, all held together by delicate stands of mycelium as transcendence grows out of the darkness.

"From looking fiercely into the face of loss, these poems bloom beautiful and surprising lessons gifted from the more-than-human world. Woven together with a touch of witchcraft and an indomitable spirit, they are a mantra for healing and acceptance in our often too disconnected world." Ciaran Hodgers

Crown Her with Ivy-A Tale of Ariadne and Dionysus

A dramatic poly-vocal poem exploring the myth of Ariadne, a princess from Greek mythology and her encounter with Dionysus, the wild god of ecstasy and rebellion.

Interweaving elements from Euripides ‘The Bacchae’, the poem celebrates transformation through sexual awakening, the rewilding of the divine feminine and how unleashing the darker sides of the psyche can instigate rebirth.

Surrender and enter the ecstasy.

Hearth-A Tale of Hestia and Dionysus

The goddess of the hearth finally takes centre stage.

A forgotten goddess. A notorious god.

One night in Paris after an eternity of curious desire.

She is the modest and dutiful goddess of the hearth, the firstborn goddess of the pantheon and weary witness to her family’s selfish antics. He is a mysterious and rebellious new god who has come to claim his birthright and remind the inhabitants of Olympus that they forged their world in chaos, blood and sacrifice. When they meet, they irrevocably change the course of each other’s fates forever.

When they come together aeons later, they remember why they broke apart and why they couldn’t stay away. ‘Hearth’ asks why Hestia, the pantheons most forgettable goddess, dared to find Olympus wanting and left it forever, and if the epitome of the Dionysian spirit, Jim Morrison, lead singer of psychedelic Sixties band The Doors, really was the wild god of ecstatic revelry that he channelled on stage.

A poetic exploration of desire and the lot of immortality, ‘Hearth’ moves between Seventies Paris and Ancient Olympus and the lives of two immortals who for all their differences, are intimately entangled.

Perfect for fans of Madeline Miller, Natalie Haynes and Jennifer Saint, ‘Hearth’ is an original myth that takes the retelling genre on a new speculative adventure into the modern world.

'You can't deny your own wildness and call yourself free.'