Poet Libby Jenner shares a stark tale of survival across her ‘Seasons of Self’ collection

We were delighted to sit down with poet and author Libby Jenner to discuss the publication of her latest collection, ‘Cocooned in my Abyss’, and the completion of her poetry series ‘Seasons of Self’.

“In ‘don’t be shy, dearest butterfly’ and ‘Wings Unfurled’, my experiences are woven into the genetics of the character, but she is also a fictional embodiment for the empowerment I strove towards. ‘Cocooned in my Abyss’, however, is a collection of poems directly from my childhood journals and adulthood scribbles which span almost 10 years. The compilation process for the first half of this book was incredibly harrowing (trigger warnings will be available in the book description and blurb) but I wanted to honour my younger self by keeping her voice alive in her own words: for it was her endurance in surviving that has allowed me to live as I do, today. Hopefully, you can push through the pain and get to the version of me that I am proud to be today: one who has reflected on their life from a mentally healthy perspective, which is a phrase I never thought I would be able to associate myself with. I invite you to read about the numerous paths of my cocooned state, emergence of wings, and leaps into the haze of hope.” - Libby Jenner

Huge congratulations on the release of your third poetry collection ‘Cocooned in My Abyss’ and the completion of the ‘Seasons of Self’ poetry series! Tell us all about it.

‘Writing was her lifeline to articulate the nightmares that followed her into wake. And after a couple of decades focused on surviving, she decides it is not enough: she wants to soar into the haziness of hope and write about what it means to live.’ – Cocooned in My Abyss synopsis

Thank you ever so much for your congratulation! Whoop whoop for the ‘Seasons of Self’ series!

So, ‘Cocooned in My Abyss’ is a smaller book compared to the other two in the series as it hasn’t got the prose-y narrative that helped tell the story in the other books: this book is compiled of excerpts from my poetry journals from the ages of 14-23. Part 1 begins with a journal entry I wrote at 22 in the wake of a severe mental breakdown and is followed by poetry I wrote from the age of 14 to untangle the knot in my head that had grown prickled and loud from traumatic familial experiences and difficulties with my anxiety, depression, and OCD. Part 2 is the stereotypical ‘Seasons of Self’ empowering lift where the poetry is written after I took the brave step in my mental health recovery by starting medication. It saved my life, and this book is but a small insight into how I chose to live rather than teeter on the cliff edge of survival.

The paperback is £6.99 from Amazon and Barnes&Noble, 99p Kindle E-book, OR for free if you have KindleUnlimited! Bargain 😉

I’d also like to mention the trigger warnings for the book. They are mentioned in the blurb and in the first few pages, but I don’t wish to cause any distress to my poetry pals: Anxiety, Depression, OCD, Suicidal Ideation, Disorderly Eating, Emotional Abuse, Toxic Relationships.

What can readers expect from Cocooned in My Abyss in comparison to your first two collections?

They can expect a deeper level of vulnerability about my mental health that I haven’t really shared online before. This book is completely authentic in my experience as I delve into the poetry I wrote at the heights of my struggle with my disorders (in Part 1 of ‘Cocooned in My Abyss’), all the way through to reaching a state of recovery.

This series is loosely based on my own emotions and strides towards loving, accepting, and believing in myself, but there has always been an element of wishfulness to be the empowered person I am writing about. Now, I am her: I am finally the protagonist I have been writing about for years. And I think that the book besties who have read my other books will notice the change to my writing voice in Part 2 of ‘Cocooned in My Abyss’ because of the authenticity that radiates from it.

Part 2 is much more uplifting and hope induced than the first half. It has the stereotypical ‘Seasons of Self’-Love (if you will 😉) that flows through the first two books. There are poems about feeling comfortable in how I express myself, positive changes in my behaviours and reactions, reflections on my child-self, and overall encompasses the main feelings I had in the first year of starting medication. I am incredibly grateful to have access to this life-saving treatment, and there is part of me that thinks maybe someone will read this and not be afraid to take this brave step, too. I had tried multiple forms of therapy, read tonnes of self-help books, journalled, etc, but I needed that final form of help: this book could be the reason why someone chooses to live rather than survive, and that is an honour that I cannot even begin to fathom.

Readers can expect more darkness than the other books in my series, but the light that filters through in part 2 is a completely truthful account of how I view my empowerment journey. I am no longer writing from a whimsical garden realm (in ‘don’t be shy, dearest butterfly’) or writing on where I hope to be within reality (in ‘Wings Unfurled’): ‘Cocooned in My Abyss’ is my truest story in this series.

What’s unique about Seasons of Self is that the series can be read in any order, but there is also a chronological order. What does the chronological order represent and will the reader have a different experience if they read it in a particular order?

I really wanted to create a series that could be read interchangeably so that new poetry pals don’t need to have read any of my other releases to understand what is happening. Yet, I absolutely had to offer the chronological book besties a sense of relief by creating a story for them to follow.

(FYI, the chronological order is:

1. Cocooned in My Abyss, Part 1 of the book

2. don’t be shy, dearest butterfly

3. Wings Unfurled

4. Cocooned in My Abyys, Part 2 of the book

Anyways, back to the interview)

Chronologically reading the series means you will follow the protagonist from childhood through to adulthood, whilst mixing up the order means you read from her perspective at different phases in her life. Unknowingly, I began writing the book at 14, as I mentioned earlier about the poems being taken from my journal, but I began drafting this series when I was 19 and finished it when I was 23. I’m 24, now, so it’s been 10 years since that first poem was created. I write a lot in this series about my inner child and how she is always with me, but to read about that actual child and remember the world through her eyes was, honestly, quite harrowing in places. Readers can take their pick with how they read it, but I do think reading the series chronologically is the best way to understand the encompassing message of growth, change, and love through the span of the protagonist’s life, with my own experiences woven in between.

The book has trigger warnings - what themes does the poetry explore that may be triggering to people? You also say that it was ‘harrowing’ to compile the first half of the book. What was that experience like for you?

Though the triggers (ie. Suicidal ideation, mental health, verbal abuse etc) are not explicit in nature, as there’s an illustriousness to my words that softens them slightly, I do have a responsibility to alert my poetry pals of said topics. It is completely at the judgement of the reader as to whether they have the capacity to read about a subject that if, for example, they too have experienced or are currently experiencing, and whether that will cause them distress. Part 2 is empowering, earnest, and strong: so, I believe anyone could read that half, but I want to ensure that readers don’t take the harm riddled in part 1 and project that onto themselves.

Regarding the compilation process, I can’t deny that it was harrowing. At the time I didn’t quite understand the magnitude of what I was experiencing, and it hurts to imagine my younger self feel so much torment. In Part 2 I write about how there is a sense of guilt for the past selves who had to sacrifice so much of their childhood, sense of wellbeing, and existence for me to live: and it’s somewhat easier to imagine they are separate characters I have created that didn’t actually feel the hurt, the pain, the anguish. Especially when I am so grateful to be living a soft life as a medicated adult. Reading my poetry resurfaced many emotions I had packed away in a tight little box, and it reminds me that what I experienced was very real. And no number of metaphors or poetry or fiction can eradicate the suffering I endured at such a young age.

I deliberately didn’t release this final book for well over a year since ‘Wings Unfurled’ because I really could not decide whether I wanted to share this with the world, and it felt so unlike myself to only share pain when my writing is, usually, so uplifting: which is why it is split into part 1 and 2. This way, I could honour the child who wrote those poems, and too honour the woman she grew into.

Cocooned in My Abyss is a collection of poems directly from your childhood/adulthood journals which span almost 10 years. When you were writing these journals as a child did you know that you were keeping them for something important or to share one day?

I didn’t think I would live past 16, so I had absolutely no intention of sharing them or expecting them to be shared. But when I started Cognitive Behavioural Therapy at 17, I noticed that my writing slowly became dotted with hope, and then those dots connected like raindrops on a window and a stream of empowerment flowed from my pen. I think in that time I wanted to keep my poems because they were a reminder of how much progress I had made, but due to their vulnerability I had no intention on sharing them. Even when I knew this was how the final book would end (which was a couple years ago now) I wasn’t prepared to share them. But I am glad I was brave enough to decide otherwise.

What was the inspiration behind the title and the beautiful cover design by Annabelle Windsor?

‘Cocooned in My Abyss’ as a title was decided when I was writing ‘Wing Unfurled’, so there’s a little easter egg in that book with it as a poem title which has the imagery of the front cover! As the series follows a transformative process, it made sense to have the first chronological book as a cocoon; but it also symbolises how I felt trapped in my mental health spirals.

For the cover, all complementary and admiring comments must be handed solely to Annie, my best friend and illustrator of this series. She is a sensational graphic designer and has been so patient and dedicated to creating my covers for this series. Her talent isn’t a shock because she has always blossomed creatively, but I still found myself in complete awe when she would show me her illustrative drafts and final pieces for this series. Annie and I have been best friends since we were 9, and to have her be a huge contributor to this series has such importance to me: she has loved me through all the seasons that this book explores, and her friendship has helped me through some of my darkest moments, so to share this project with her felt very fitting. I had full faith that there would be no one better to understand how the series could be brought to life through illustration than her.

Were there any particular challenges in writing this book that you haven’t faced before, or anything that arose that you experienced while working on previous collections?

The challenge with this publication was deciding how much of my experiences I do and don’t share: I decided that I had to measure my willingness to share by imagining the strangers that would be reading it. To be honest, I was more concerned about my family and friends reading it than strangers! Which I think can be a common feeling, and for me is because I can distance myself from a stranger as they only know a version of me that I share online, but my closest loved ones know me for who I really am.

But, overall, I have really enjoyed the drafting, proofing, editing, and overall publishing process as I do love those aspects of my passion for writing. It’s reaffirmed that it is an area of the publishing industry that I am keen on entering at some point!

How do you feel as though you have evolved as a writer throughout the process of creating Seasons of Self?

My confidence has truly unfurled, you could say I am no longer shy of being a butterfly 😉, and it is evident in my poetry: my words grows stronger throughout this series and I am sure will flourish even more so in my future projects (which I have also been hiding for a year, chapbooks are incoming poetry pals and if you read this far into my interview, you have the inside scoop of new-book flavoured ice cream).

I think it is a stereotypical trait for writers to look back at their old work and think “oh I would write that so differently now” or belittle themselves into thinking how it could be ‘better’: I am guilty of this. However, I am trying to look back at ‘don’t be shy, dearest butterfly’, for example, and remember that, at the time, that was my absolute best work. The same with ‘Wings Unfurled, and now with ‘Cocooned in My Abyss’. And though there are elements that I would write differently with the voice I now have, I think it’s better for me to shift my perspective and remind myself that wanting to change old work is just a way of showing how much I have grown and solidified my writing voice into a new form. I have come to understand that my voice is malleable by my hands only, and it is exciting to imagine how I will evolve throughout my life and mould my writing style. I keep feeling like my work is getting ‘better’, but I am trying to use a less comparative adjective to describe my work: my writing style is malleable, the strength of my voice has infinite space to unfurl, and the way I write serves its purpose in the moment of creation.

Thank you to all the poetry pals and book besties that have been present during my ‘Seasons of Self’ journey. It is an honour to call myself an author.

Interview with Libby Jenner
Writer

Libby actively began writing poetry during secondary school as a therapeutic outlet. Years later, her painful retellings blossomed into self-love prose, so she created an Instagram account (libbyjenner.poetry) with an intent to create an online space where poetry lovers could feel an abundance of empowerment.

In her final year of university, Libby self-published her debut poetry and prose collection called ‘don’t be shy, dearest butterfly’ and has since graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Writing.

In 2023, she released the second book in this poetry series called ‘Wings Unfurled’. Now living in Brighton, she has unfurled her own wings in a city that she has made her home.

In 2025, she released the final book in her ‘Seasons of Self’ poetry collection, ‘Cocooned in my Abyss’.

You can follow Libby and find where to buy her books here.