Glass Heart: An Anxiously Attached Poetry Collection

By Ben Wilson

The anxious-avoidant dance.
The spark, the connection, the chemistry.
The potential, the intimacy, the hope.

Then...

The phantom ex.
The slow fade.
The discard.

If you're familiar with these terms, this is the poetry book for you. Guided by attachment theory and his own past, Ben Wilson's latest collection explores relationships through the prism of a self-aware anxious attacher. The journey is fuelled by an innate desire for romance and connection, yet constantly troubled by fear of abandonment - from partners with minimal emotional availability. Glass Heart is a compendium that straddles love and loss, and the pain and poignancy conjured by those extremes.

Below are three poems taken from Glass Heart: the title piece, along with 'You Got, I Got' and 'Mousehole'.

Glass Heart

Beneath stained polish, lipgloss sheen,
Beyond all the journeys we've seen,
These arteries stay true and just -
Tinged in wine red, pulsing for us
Despite each knowing how this ends:
No simple fix, no fast amends
When after doing the hard yards
You slice the vein, scatter the shards.

You Got, I Got

You got worshipped like a Byzantine queen,
I got a slip for repeat sertraline,

You got support for your every whim,
I got ice night-sweats and flashbacks to him.

You got a free forty-two inch TV,
I got sixteen weeks' brutal therapy,

You got kisses beside oceans in teal,
I got perma doubts over what was real.

You got June evenings of love, lust and sin,
I got your traumas singed into my skin,

You got friends cheering all the sh*t you did,
I got friends fearing a closed coffin lid.

Mousehole

A rain-soaked clifftop car park,
Scrambling round in the glove box for change -
F*** knows why, we knew we'd get fined anyway -
Then strolling through ocean spray,
Fingers locked, smiling away the downpour,
Blissfully unaware we'd never do this again.
Photos by the boathouse,
Of the yellow boot, the plaque,
Reminiscing on one of the saddest events of our lifetimes -
On my second birthday,
Literally down the road from you,
Yet both too young to remember.

We said we'd go back the summer after,
Hold hands, pay our respects,
Re-read the book that sent you to sleep each night,
Painting vivid pictures of high seas,
The bravest of human tragedies.
The eight and the other eight.
Nineteen, twelve, one-nine-eight-one.
Solace in the pub upon finally
Escaping the deluge,
Palm to palm once more,
Wishing them peace
Over what I could never know
Was to be our final drink in Kernow.

My loss will never be comparable to theirs.
But selfishly, so selfishly,
It still aches
To the deepest depths
Of my soul.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0FTWY55W6
• ISBN13: 9798268384451
• Release Date: October 2025
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 62 Pages
• Weight: 0.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.2" x 5.5"