The Scrying Window, by Marcus Wilson

Poetry, chapbook, 36 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

The Scrying Window is a poetic exploration of trauma, grief, and transformation. Structured in five movements, it guides the reader through losses of early adulthood, addiction, fear, spiritual searching, and the long work of returning to one’s inner life. The poems move between intimate personal memory and the liminal spaces where the living and the dead co-exist, blending psychological honesty with undercurrents of mysticism.

Throughout the collection, the poet confronts generational wounds, societal expectations, and emotional inheritance, while also tracing moments of compassion and unexpected grace. Encounters with dreams, omens, spectral presences, and natural landscapes create a sense of a world always reaching back toward the speaker, urging him to see what was once hidden.

What emerges is a portrait of a man learning to release old defenses and accept a life shaped by tenderness rather than fear. By the final pages, the transformation is unmistakable: a hard, jagged self—worn smooth by surrender. This manuscript offers a deeply felt narrative about healing, memory, and the courage it takes to live differently.

Marcus Wilson is an MFA candidate in poetry at Lindenwood University and Associate Poetry Editor for Iron Horse Literary Review. Based in Vermont’s Green Mountains, he writes from experiences of neurodivergence and recovery, exploring memory, inner life, and transformation. His poems appear in Pulsebeat Poetry Journal, The RavensPerch, and TrashLight Press, as well as Lucky Jefferson, where he was named a finalist in the 2025 Poetry and Prose Contest. More of his work can be found at marcusbwilson.com.