helkappe poems

Sandra Lester was born in Essex UK. A former highly successful hypnotherapist/counsellor, she has also worked as a model/actress; she is now a widely published, author/poet/artist/activist and founder of the underground Art Movement known as THE GRAPHORRHOEALISTS. She has exhibited her couture hand-embroidery and staged her radical performance art/poetry, at various London and Essex Galleries/venues. Russian poet/playwright/artist, VLADIMIR MAYAKOVSKY, PETER READING, CHRISTOPHER LOGUE, J.H. PRYNNE and Sylvia Plath influence her confessional poetry; she also identifies with ROBERT LOWELL AND THE CONFESSIONAL SCHOOL OF POETS along with The Beats and Surrealists.HELKAPPE POEMS was inspired by HEL- the Norse Queen of the Underworld. HEL is a mother Goddess in her disguise, she rukles over a fiery womb of regeneration. Unlike Christian Hell - which received its name from her - it is an otherworldly place of renewal, as opposed to a place of misery and punishment. When Nothern Shamen enter this realm, they wear a magic mask called a HELKAPPE; this renders them invisible. The masked harlequin - formerly a character in the Italian commedia dell'Atre, which was popular in Italian theatre for over two hundred years - was originally kindred with the Goddess HEL; SHE IS THE EMBODIMENT OF THE DIVINE MYSTERY, challenging us to look behind the mask of appearances and see things clearly, as they truly are. The poetry in this collection delves beyond the masks we are forced by our society to wear; and the masks we choose to wear. Converting anger into creative fuels, a plethora of conflicting emotions, the politics of fate, love and the poet's close relationships, all peculiarly feature in HELKAPPE POEMS: the results being the poetic comedy and tragedy of life itself.