In Public/In Private

Author: Josephine, Leyla

Poetry by individual poets

Published on 16 November 2022 by Burning Eye Books in the United Kingdom.

Leyla Josephine dances between her private and public lives, her inner thoughts and outer performance, dipping into each side of herself with humour and reverence. In Public/In Private ends up in a stranger's flat on a one night stand, an awkward lunch with a politician, raves in dark sweaty clubs and midnight mass in Ireland. Some poems read like public proclamations but in others we are invited to listen through the crack of a bedroom door. There is a sense that everything firmly belongs here, the opposing sides of herself do not discount each other.

Leyla Josephine's first collection of poetry unmasks secrets, faith, shame, lust,and death unapologetically. She fearlessly reaches through every page and asks 'Have you felt this too?'.