Guildford-based singer-songwriter Emily Nash revisits precious moments over the course of her life, from her childhood to her adventurous university days, through poems that evoke the exuberance of youth. With the rhymes and verses in the pages of "One for the Road," she provides readers an entertaining reading experience, as well as a collection of poetry that preserves the golden moments of childhood and adolescence.
With her work, Nash not only retreats readers to hilarious hijinks from her life but also encourages them to treasure priceless memories and make sure they don't fade away from one's recollection. They should be celebrated and shared as well. Her wholesome writings include memories from when she was little, such as in "Sea Giant," which revisits her holidays in Cornwall when she was struck by the vastness and splendor of the beach and the sea. An excerpt reads:
In "Sea Giant," she recounts holidays in Cornwall when her young imagination visualized incredible things beneath the enormous sea before her. An excerpt from it reads:
"So gently lapped the waves upon the giant's edge,
So tenderly upon her toes as if her it did acknowledge.
Indeed each wave was like a sigh from something old and wise
who'd seen the sins of all mankind and watched them die like flies.
And through it all from age to age lived on same routine,
Feeding fish and whale and ray while keeping sands all clean."
Not all poems deal with whimsy; she also explores difficult subjects such as her struggle with eating disorders. In "Adulterous addiction" she meditates on the nature of greed which she likens as an offense to God, depicting the condition as a wife who is cheating on her husband with food:
"My wife has a weakness for palate,
for sweet things she overly cares,
sometimes I think she would rather
be married to a chocolate éclair,
or a giant sweet toffee apple,
or a silky smooth galaxy bar,
or a big bag of popcorn,
or a wrapped chocolate assortment jar.
Does she know how stupid she looks,
does the stomach not say to the brain,
look here stop trying to explode me,
it's too much are you insane? (….)
One night I came home from work,
I found her alone by the bed.
She was guilty from this fact,
when I turned on the light she was red,
red with passion in the form of jam
smeared all over her face
and the filthy clothes of jam doughnuts disposed
by the door where they had first embrace!"
With her writings, Nash captures the highs and lows of life and the efforts taken to go through each day, as well as the simple joys that greet people during their days, and the process of finding God.
"I wanted to compile the poems I had written during university years as I felt they would be fun to share and make you laugh, some of them I hope. They are easy to understand with regular rhythm and rhyme, appropriate to read to children and to enjoy as an adult reflecting one your own life yourself. I called it 'One for the Road' as they follow a road of my younger life." Nash says.
About the Author
Emily Nash is a singer and songwriter from Guildford, U.K. She plays guitar, piano, and the flute and writes mainly worship music that invokes the natural world. She is also an avid writer of poems. She also enjoys making hats and headbands using decorative fabrics and, over the lockdown, tried creating face masks as well. More information is available on her website: http://www.emilynash.org.uk