Rise Up My Soul and Speak 2

Columbia, South Carolina: October 2, 2022, Writer and fine arts administrator, Shirley Fields-Martin announces the release of her first book of poetry, entitled, Rise Up My Soul and Speak. This personal collection of poetic and visual works are soon to be available both through Amazon and in bookstores across America. Proceeds from the sale of this work will help support the projects and programs offered by the Skipp Pearson Foundation. The delightfully compact, 44-page volume combines the author’s original poetry, centered on themes of self-reflection, personal evolution, emotional self-actualization, and private meditation, with the writer’s distinctively idiosyncratic paintings and lyrical photographs of flowers, nature scenes, landscapes, and imagined representations of harbors and “beaches of the mind”. This thoughtful work offers documentation of an insightful poetic journey exploring the inner processes of the writer’s emotional archeology. The engaging little volume provides a humanist vision of intimate realizations stemming from reflections on Fields-Martin’s life, spanning the period from 1978-2022. Each poem provides a unique awareness of the author’s rhythmic use of language, representing diverse experiences and realizations all achieved over a 44-year period. Discussion of social and cultural issues, personal growth, and topical political realizations, as well as understanding gained by assessment of interpersonal relationships and personal visions, make this volume a fascinating addition to the poetry collection of any reader. All individuals interested in the investigation of conceptual development stemming from personal psychology and patterns of thought and speech intended to share aspects of a highly individual, American experience, will deem this work an intriguing addition to the summer and fall reading list.

By combining her poetry with original drawings and photographs, Fields-Martin weaves a compelling individual portrait of a highly sensitive consciousness, underscoring the human desire for affirmation, and imparting a shared, universal need for communication and discourse. Rise Up My Soul and Speak contributes to the essential human need of and search for mutual dialogue and understanding. -30-