BOOK REVIEW
“Your hand is the safest place I’ve ever known.”
Love by Night, is an aesthetically pleasing book of poetry written by S.K. Williams.
As the book of poetry features voices of both writers, it’s hard to know who says which poem, at times. As well as not knowing where poems start or finish. Besides this, each piece was intimately written focusing on how good being in love is, and being with the right person.
From a hesitant beginning, stumbling through doubts and commitment, to finding hope for the future, there’s many twists and turns of their relationship gently told through poetry form making it an engaging read.
Written in a sentimental style, the tender poetry celebrates love with lingering hopefulness that will follow the reader beyond finishing this book of poetry. Each piece will lure the reader in through the short and long form poems that appear genuine than feeling forced.
The book of poetry is accompanied by illustrations that beautifully correspond to the phases of the moon which splits the book into sections. Following their stories of a developing love, the book of poetry touches upon topics like acceptance, self-love and finding oneself with and without their partner. As the story unravels with their impactful writing, it’s a pleasant read with reflections of a growing connection.
Words by Danielle Holian
INTERVIEW
Tell us a bit about your writing background.
I've been writing in some form or another my whole life. When I was young, it was short stories and comics. When I got into high school, it was essays and longer stories. When I grew a little bit older, I went to college down in Los Angeles, writing screenplays and working in the film industry. Here and there, I wrote poetry, but my interest was primarily in fiction. But I remember getting really into poetry in 2017, when I was working at a bookstore. I picked up Courtney Peppernell's poetry book Pillow Thoughts and was really moved by it. I was surprised by how simple the book was, and yet how elegant and vulnerable it was too. I read it and thought "This is something I could write." A lovely woman that I worked with read a couple of my poems and suggested I put them online somewhere. She and I have been running the skwilliamspoetry page on Instagram ever since then.
What, or who, inspired you to start writing?
Writing began for me when I was really little. I read a lot of books as a child. There was always some adventure, some escape. I was the kid in class who spent more time in his own head than in reality. So, I think stories were always a part of me. Another part of me, however, is that I endured a lot of trauma as a child. Some of my writing began as an outlet, an escape from some of the things going on in my life. It was a healthy way to express those feelings and figure them out for myself. Taking the step from writing these private, intimate pieces, to sharing them with others and being vulnerable, that was a very intimidating step. I would not have taken that step if it had not been for the encouragement and tenderness my partner showed me all along the way. She helped me to see that my words could heal others who dealt with similar trauma, that in the same way books helped me escape, I could help others escape.
And what influenced your poetry book Love by Night?
The idea for Love by Night came out of months and months of writing . I was sifting through all these poems I wrote and trying to find some sort of through line to connect them all into a collection. The more I read through my poems and other poetry books, the more I realized I didn't want a collection. I wanted to tell a story. I think that so few poetry books tell a story. I decided to myself that if I was going to tell a story, it was going to be about love. I think sometimes love is a subject that is overlooked, not taken seriously, or is dismissed as childish or immature. But I think, maybe more than ever now, love is important and I wanted to write about it. I recognized that there was a lot of poetry about love out there. But I found that every poetry book about love told only one side of the story. Why shouldn't a book of love poems tell both sides? Why shouldn't it feature two voices, and be about the beauty of when they come together? And so, Love by Night came to be.
How do you find the balance between writing about your own personal experiences and exploring topics that may not necessarily be autobiographical, but still speak to so many people?
I think poetry is often an attempt to understand or communicate something experienced. But no writer is limited to their own experience. You can write about whatever you want. Whoever you want. Nobody has the exact same life experiences. But it is important to connect to others, to understand and empathize, and writing can do that. You can ask yourself, what if that happened to me? How would that affect me? Maybe we could all benefit from trying to grasp someone else's feelings. Personally, for better or worse, I can be an incredibly empathetic person. I can feel someone else's pain or happiness very sharply sometimes. And I think that part of me is very valuable in my writing. I can explore the emotion of an experience I haven't gone through, but maybe others have. A really fitting example of that, which I think is far more important than people realize, is considering what it feels like to be the opposite gender. That can be such a wildly different life experience. And yet, it is no less important than your own.
What makes a piece of your writing right to post on your Instagram, versus the ones that stay in the book only?
More often than not, if a poem starts to get too long, it becomes more fitting for the book. I think it is important to recognize your audience. And the reality of instagram is that it is a primarily visual medium, so shorter poems with a more visual aspect to them tend to draw more people in. A lot of people use social media for quick reactions, for convenience. We all have busy lives. Some of us don't have the time or energy to read a big poem on our break at work. I like to think of social media as a good springboard. If people are drawn to the look, to the feeling, to the tone, or to the words, that is really incredible. I love to connect with those people. Sometimes you can cultivate friendships in that way. But for anyone who wants more than that, who wants more depth, they can find that in the book.
And finally, what advice would you give to aspiring writers?
This is a difficult question to pin down a proper response to, because every writer's journey is so different. I think that is something that we as writers often need to take a step back and recognize. Everything happens in its own time. Our journey is not necessarily going to be the same as someone else's. That recognition can open up a whole bunch of possibilities for us. I would say one of the biggest pieces of advice I can give is that you should only ever write for your own sake. Write for yourself. Write because it is a joy to write. Not because you want a response or you want validation or praise or accolades. Because none of those things are guaranteed. If I wrote because I wanted something out of it, I would've thrown in the towel a long time ago. I've been writing for 20 years and I just got my first check for it. So be patient and determined and work hard at what you do, but don't expect anything. Somewhere along the way, your love for the craft will get you to where you need to be. Keep your heart and your hands open, be ready to learn and adapt every day. And don't be afraid to reach out for help. You never know. Maybe someday your favorite poet's agent will be your agent too.