Glass and Gravel

Author: Nick Calder
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Glass & Gravel is poetry that doesn’t pretend everything is roses and honey.

This is a book for readers who know there’s a cost to seeing things clearly. For anyone who understands that talking honestly about grief, trauma, heartbreak, and rebuilding rarely comes out neat or polite.

Glass & Gravel is a collection of raw, uncompromising, and unflinching poems—paired with stark black-and-white illustrations that deepen its impact. These images don’t soften the words; they reinforce the themes of fracture, clarity, and the cost of confronting what breaks us.

It refuses easy consolations. It doesn’t offer a tidy narrative of healing. Rather, it accepts that healing isn’t linear and confronts the stops and starts, the cautions and doubts that come with trying to make something whole from what’s been broken.

Why you’ll want to read this:

• Poems about grief, trauma, heartbreak, and recovery
• A raw, modern voice that remains uncompromising throughout
• Framing notes that encourage active engagement with the text
• Stark, thematic hand-drawn illustrations that amplify the book’s emotional core
• For readers seeking truth over comfort, clarity over consolation
• For those tired of curated, sanitized healing stories

If you’ve ever found yourself rebuilding after it all fell apart, this collection is for you. If you’re not willing to see things clearly, recognize the cost of that clarity, and keep going anyway— you may not be ready for what this book contains. But if you’re strong enough— buckle in.