Voyeur, by Edward Hemstreet

Poetry, chapbook, 32 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

Looking in from outside; experiencing humanity as a surrogate; living only in third person… Not all voyeurs are indecent, & these are their marks. They wake detached from their days, wandering through dry land as husks, frail forms drifting between moments & connections. Life’s milestones erode to a fine sand carried by the wind — love becomes an obscure legend, & happiness is everywhere but within. It becomes habitual to know & feel joy only in the happenings of others. It is an intense warmth, but soon after shrivels in the cold of a desert night.

These works — written across the last six years — were assembled for these ‘voyeurs’, & those who find themselves edging closer to that barren land as time progresses. Each poem is a song of absence, distance, & loss on its path, or a fatigued hymn of hope beyond it. It is easy to notice the beauty of life only in the lives of others; the amount of souls who feel this way is colossal & certainly underestimated. Catharsis is ointment for that ache, & that is what this collection intends to deliver.

Edward Hemstreet is an artist & writer born from the clay of the Raritan River Basin in central New Jersey (Lenapehoking.) After sharing poetry in several publications in the late 2010s, they shifted to visual art — primarily crayon, gouache, & charcoal works — while continuing to write privately. They are grateful to return to the literary sphere with a healthy range of old & new writing. Outside of artistic endeavors, they can be found looking at bees & wasps in flowers, listening to hi-fi audio, & watching birds live their lives.