Self-published book
My song is perfume
Complete service from start to finish: edit, typesetting, cover design and submission to Lulu self-publishing service.
This book of poetry is the second volume of writings that I have compiled and edited from the nine-hundred or more pages of writings that I found on Mum’s laptop after her death in August 2020.
The first volume was her autobiography Rosalie: in her own words (2022), the next volume will be a collection of the very many short stories and other creative writings that she penned. Nestled between is this short book of poetry.
Services
- Edit
- Typeset
- Cover design
- ISBN number
- Submission to publisher
Format
- A5 (148 mm × 210 mm)
- 60 pages
- Monochrome pages
- Full colour cover
Client
Family of Rosalie J Saunders
Project date
2023
The story
The book’s title comes from the poem, “My song for My Saviour”. Mum often spoke about how she would experience the presence of God as a scent, particularly in moments of darkness. Many memories of her childhood in Malaya and work in India were wrapped up in the perfumes of native flowers and trees, and one of her great luxuries was the perfume Mitsouko by Guerlain. “My song is perfume” seemed apt.
I arranged these poems into four sections, each named after lines from the same poem.
The first section, “My song is my brokenness”, gathers eight poems where you can almost feel the pain and anguish.
This is offset by the second section, “My song is hope in the darkness”, which explores the love of God and faith that sustained and gave hope to Mum throughout her life.
In the third section, “My song is blueness, sapphires and the sun”, Mum leads us on a journey through the landscape that helped shape her life, the Border hills and rivers and beyond.
The final section, “My song is ribbons of rainbow hue”, contains her remaining poems that draw attention to the ordinary made extraordinary.
