Poems of love and heartbreak

From June 2020 to February this year, Joel Wendell Frederick has published four books of poems, reflecting love, heartbreak, romance, and other factors that influence people’s emotions.

Frederick, who works in the security industry, said his poetry comes from a deep emotional place inside. He said he creates poems to cope with his personal struggles and insecurities in everyday life.

“These poems and prose also come from my imagination and varying heights of joy and all the other levels. They are deep emotions that have been sometimes repressed or allowed to run wild,” Frederick told Newsday.

“The end results are emotions manifested into masterpieces of metaphors, colourfully painted and articulated onto paper or spoken.”

Aside from having an endless supply of words and creativity, he believes God has given him "this strange talent to use," which allows him to connect with others.

Frederick’s latest book, 70% Guilty Decadence, was published in February.

In January 2021, he published If love.... was a word: A Provocative Poetry collection.

Three months earlier, in October 2020, he published Butterfly on a Purple Moon: Inspirational love poems for the soul.

In June 2020, he published his first book – Caffeinated Whispers: A collection of love, romance, and thought-provoking poetry – edited by Wendy Francis and Avion Scott.

Frederick considers poetry to be a one-of-a-kind art form through which he expresses his thoughts.

“It is also a type of storytelling that has the power to evoke emotions of encouragement, sadness, love, lost, triumph, and even hope,” he said.

“If my work just touches even one person, it would not be in vain.”

Frederick, who is from St Augustine, said his latest book comprises a collection of “little bite-size portions of prose and quotations attempting to expose what our guilty pleasures are.”

He added that Butterfly on a Purple Moon is a compilation of inspirational poems aimed at affecting the reader's soul.

His 2021 book seeks to redefine contemporary poetry once again. He said readers can find the honest soul of a man who does not seek to apologise for being honest – honest about love, romance and sometimes heartache.

He said his first book urges the reader to pause and reflect as the poems speak of joys and life challenges. His lyrics are a mix of life experiences, fiction, and fantasy.

Caffeinated Whispers is available at RIK bookstores nationwide. This book as well as Butterfly on a Purple Moon are available at Scribbles and Quills Ltd in Chaguanas.

All four books are available on Amazon.