The Story Behind “Talking to the Sky”

There was a brief period in 2013 where I couldn’t write.  I was silent for a month.

The stories were still in my head though. The characters were still speaking. I was in and out of sleep in the beginning and when I wasn’t awake to hear them, they filled my dreams.

As I started to get better, I would sit at the screen, willing my hands to work again. I used to be able to write 20,000 words in a weekend, thirty if I pushed it. Now I could barely write a few of them. All these voices were speaking at once, characters left unwritten.

I had lost my voice. Writing is how I speak to the world, how I put myself out there, how I engage with life. Day after day, as I stared at the keyboard and screen before me. It was like looking at a big fluffy cloud, and my mind was talking to it. It was the biggest writers block ever.

I did the only thing I could think of: turn to poetry. I willed my hands to work, one letter and one word at a time. Poems didn’t have to be long, I could not write the same way, but I could still tell a story.

At times, I was able to type out a few lines, a couple of phrases. However, I was writing again.

That was enough.

These poems sprung out of the need to heal myself. As I continued to heal, the poems kept coming. Each poem through out the year was like a stepping stone on my path to finding me so that instead of talking to my computer, I was talking to the sky once more.

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Talking to the Sky was a Number One Best Seller!

How cool is this? After less than a week of being released, the e-book of Talking to the Sky achieved #1 Best Seller status on Amazon.ca! I’m totally thrilled and humbled.

On May 28th, I was on television to promote Talking to the Sky! Check out the video! The show was taped live and I’m proud to say I did a bang-up job!

Reviews

This is a different and yet very special book of poetry by Jamieson Wolf, when life hit him with a health and medical wake-up call. For a month in 2013, he was without his writer’s voice when nothing would come out. This book is his successful attempt in gaining that voice back, using an interesting media…poetry. It has been seen as a breakthrough moment in his writing career as a divergence from his ordinary genre, but no less unusual and thought provoking at the same time. He excels at this genre also.

This is a work of integrity with a sense of completion, not only another step in one’s career, but working through life’s experiences with its up and downs. This shows us that not only can someone still achieve anything they want and strive for, but with enough work, they can even excel at it, be it in another form or subject matter.

I loved this book. Poetry is very forgiving in its many forms. That being said, this is a uniquely written form, in that it has more than one voice. The poems are also interestingly typeset so that all the different voices prevail to be heard. This is primarily written from an observer, with its many voices of conversation, as snippets give us a particular slice of life, usually observed among public transportation and its riders.

You may notice a few Tarot Card references in his poems that gives the reader insight into Wolf’s world that brings an added degree of depth and measure to his work. TALKING TO THE SKY is not your average book of poems. It is life in all its reality and can be gritty at times but shows us the many different sides to the human spirit. If you expect to read with just love poems, you will find that this is not that at all.

So expect the unexpected and be pleasantly surprised. Keep an open mind and heart and travel along with this author on a journey through life. Experience with him just what he has been living with and through this last year. I challenge you to change your thinking and attitude with this book.

Bring on the adventure as you travel him and get Talking to the Sky yourself.

Rating: 5 Stars

Reviewed by Elaine Breault

I have had the pleasure of reading this collection a few times and will many more I am sure. Jamieson’s words provokes the entire spectrum of emotions in his words, allowing feelings to surface in the reader easily. There is an almost haunting permanence in the stories he weaves, one that has taken me to my own experiences that I thought were long lost. This poet is magical. His words are powerful and loving. A very very good read!!

Dava Gamble

I was deeply touched by this book of poetry. Jamieson Wolf navigates that often neglected space between our guts and our heart in a way that pulls no punches but remains hopeful and even reassuring. These poems are not afraid to explore issues such as mental illness and sexuality with stark honesty.

Diane Finkle 

With his unique style and powerful imagery, Jamieson Wolf lures us into this beautiful volume of poetry. Colors splash across the page, emotions are captured in a single word or phrase. We ride the city bus and see a woman’s tears, feel the touch of a caring hand, experience the joy in a child’s smile.

We walk a city street, hushed with snow. Friends and lovers meet with a warm breath on the cheek, a kiss, a sad goodbye. We witness courage, personal growth, moments of humor, strength, snatches of a dream.

Each poem is a stolen moment in time, raw, vivid, and intimate. Touching the Sky is an uplifting affirmation of life not soon forgotten.

Dianne Hartstock