Contact me directly: dch.derekhealy@gmail.com
Children in the Window
My fourth and latest collection of poetry, Children in the Window, was published by Graffiti Books in February this year (2026). Award-winning Cheltenham poet and artist Duncan Forbes has written of it "Derek Healy's poems travel widely and look poignantly into the past, present and inevitable future, sometimes with humour and often with deep feeling. Behind the collection as a whole is an appreciative and highly observant poet, much concerned with love, mortality, images and meanings." At the book's heart is an extended sonnet sequence dedicated to my wife.
Children in the Window costs seven pounds in paperback and is available from Amazon, and also at aspect-design.net and also directly from the poet himself at: dch.derekhealy@gmail.com
Uncharted
My third collection of poetry, entitled Uncharted, was published by Graffiti Books in September 2022. It focuses on uncertainty and times ahead, with poems touching on many unknowns, such as our expanding universe and humankind's future within it; our own trajectories and ambitions; and the "unchartedness" of trying to write.
Of it the poet and editor Alison Chisholm wrote "Derek Healy brings together poems of joy and wit, the marvels of the extent of our universe, a lament for - and celebration of - the ageing process, pandemic frustrations, and all the wonder that is human life." Polly Stretton, poet and editor, wrote "His poems take us to the cosmos, to the countryside, to children growing up. This is a medley of communication tiered with aims, wants and emotion."
Uncharted costs seven pounds in paperback and is available from Amazon, also at www.aspect-design.net , or direct from the poet himself at dch.derekhealy@gmail.com. A cheaper e-book version is also available from Amazon.
Home
My second full length collection, entitled Home, was published in June 2020 by Graffiti Books.
"Whether deploying form with a clever twist, or writing free verse, Derek Healy writes beautifully. Lyrically rich, vividly imagistic, poignant and moving, these poems stay with you long after their reading." Anna Saunders
"Each poem offers a glimpse into worlds we recognize and with which we are able to identify. They reward rereading by revealing layers of meaning and emotion, and his skilful use of form, as well as free verse, is a joy." Rona Laycock
Home costs seven pounds in paperback and is available from Amazon and also at www.aspect-design.net, or direct from the poet himself at dch.derekhealy@gmail.com
Made Strange By Time
My first collection, Made Strange By Time , was published by Matador Books in 2018.
"His poetry is superb, so carefully thought out and structured, a real joy to read...Gently comic, with subtle inflections and idiosyncrasies."
"The refreshing knack of subverting form for astonishing artistic effect."
Other publications
I have had poems published in a number of literary magazines in this country and in the USA:
The Cannon's Mouth
Carillon
Common Threads (USA)
Graffiti
Ibbetson Street (USA)
Lighten Up Online
The Lyric (USA)
Muddy River Poetry Review (USA)
Orbis
The Road Not Taken (USA)
The Salopian
The Seventh Quarry
Snakeskin
Writing Magazine
My poems have also appeared in several local anthologies, including on six occasions the Gloucestershire Writers' Network Cheltenham Literature Festival competition anthology.