Step into My Flow: Poems on Healing, Self-Discovery, and Transformation

by Michelle Heighway

Step into My Flow is a deeply personal collection that explores themes of self-discovery, healing, and the beauty of everyday moments. Through intimate, unfiltered language, Michelle Heighway reflects on the divine feminine, creativity, and the interplay between the self and the universe. With a minimalist, unpunctuated style, this collection embraces vulnerability and imperfection — inviting listeners to pause, reflect, and embrace their true selves. It celebrates transformation and the quiet energy that shapes our inner landscapes.

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Published October 15, 2025

About the author

MICHELLE HEIGHWAY is an award-winning filmmaker and photographer based in West Yorkshire, known for her critically acclaimed documentaries Mr. Somebody? and Energy: A Documentary about Damo Suzuki.

In 2024 Michelle Heighway was awarded funding from the Arts Council to develop her poetry practice. Through this support she created her debut book Step Into My Flow.

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I powered through this last night with my cup of tea. I wanted to savour each and every beautiful and meaningful word, but I simply could not. With every poem that ended, I wanted to move onto the next. I wanted each one to take a hit to my system just like my cup of tea was.

The book is separated into four sections.
Beginnings and Reflections.
Nature and Healing.
Loss and Longing.
Celebration, Connection and Transformation.

My favourite section was Loss and Longing. It is so wonderful picking up a book and finding yourself in the words. I found this a lot throughout the whole collection, but particularly that section.

My all time favourite poem (and this was a hard pick because there were so many!) was "A Postcard from Beyond" ✨ It spoke to my soul. It sounded like my own thoughts, my own words. I messaged the author to let her know we're so similar in our ways of writing because a lot of these poems remind me of my own. That's the beauty of art... You can relate to something, find yourself in something, and it might be completely different from how the author was writing it/thinking, but each and every person can perceive it in their own way.

This collection is open, honest and painfully real. Like a diary or journal that we've been invited into. An opening into how someone else's mind works. The author shows the difficult moments of life alongside the good moments of life. The moments that help us flow along how we should.

I highly recommend this collection! Especially if poetry is your thing. It really speaks to you, and gives you room for thought and reflection.

Plus the cover is so pleasing 💚

[Jo Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

The collection of poems is split into themed sections, considering manifesting and healing through grief and loss. By this, I don’t mean it’s depressing - it’s anything but. Rather, the vulnerability the author shares throughout is uplifting. She courageously examines the sensitivities of chronic illness, something I can definitely empathise with. And I found myself identifying with her musings about everyday life, the small things or routines we all have that are as much a part of our identity as our dialect.

I loved this collection but have some standout favourites: New Atmosphere made me think of how I hold myself back with my own self-talk.

Are You There? brought a lump to my throat as I was reminded of the raw longing following my mum’s death, where I searched for her everywhere, yet knowing she was nowhere.

Forever Friend took my breath away. In just four pages, a history of friendship, survival, loss and healing poured from the page and lodged in my heart.

I also love that a space was left for the author’s 17 year old self to share her voice with the final poem in the book, Where Do All The Days Go?

I am so grateful for the opportunity to review this stunning collection and if I could give it more than 5 stars, I would 💖

[Abbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This debut poetry collection feels like being gently led down a gently winding path through memory, healing, and renewal 🥰 Michelle Heighway writes with such sincerity, theres something beautifully unpretentious about her style. It feels like sitting beside someone who has lived, felt, and learned to listen to life’s quiet rhythms. Ive tabbed several of my favourites that really stood out to me for their tenderness and introspection. There’s a recurring sense of finding light through softness, of choosing presence and gratitude. I especially loved how nature threads through so many of the poems, acting as both witness and companion in her emotional landscapes. I’m so grateful for this collection - it’s a lovely addition to my collection, the kind I can dip into on a quiet morning with a cup of coffee, or return to in moments when I need reminding that healing doesn’t have to roar … sometimes, it just flows. 🌿

[Paperback Polly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Step Into My Flow by Michelle Heighway is a soulful collection that turns vulnerability into strength — poetry that truly heals.

[Amy B Garratt · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ✨ I was gifted this ARC by the author, and it’s a wonderful blend of succinct meaningful musings and flowing elegant melodies. The shorter pieces often pack an emotional punch, whereas the longer pieces allow you to ponder on the emotions of the author & your own experiences in life. A really enjoyable and engaging book of poetry.

[Fin O'Suilleabhain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having admired both of Michelle Heighway’s documentary films I thought I’d give her verse a go. This collection of nearly 100 shortish poems is described on the cover as “deeply personal”, a promise the contents keep. Most of the poems, like the title itself, have a first-person perspective on the world, whether the author is contemplating cats, toothpaste or the wider universe itself. A compact, handsomely produced volume in its hard-copy form, the collection comprises four roughly equal sections: ‘Beginnings and Reflections’, ‘Nature and Healing’, ‘Loss and Longing’ and ‘Celebration, Connection and Transformation’. The language can be deceptively spare (blank verse indeed – you won’t need a dictionary), though on a re-reading, much of it struck me as more concrete, while still leaving plenty of space for the imagination – this is poetry, after all. In this respect it can be a bit like ambient music, maybe, and could have some of the same therapeutic potential (and not only in the ‘Nature and Healing’ section). This doesn’t always make it a comfortable ride, let alone a cosy one. There’s mystery and unease, as in my favourite example (‘Observation’), beginning “There is a man / At the bottom of of my drive”. Most of the poems keep to a single page but one (‘Forever Friend’) is quite a bit longer, as befits what seems to stand out as the most obviously personal of all. I hardly felt I’d got to the bottom of the whole thing even on re-reading, which is of course as it should be. If I had to sum it up I’d say it’s wounded but (while hardly pain-free) hopeful. If I were you I’d consider giving it a go too.

[Sonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michelle Heighway’s debut poetry collection ‘Step into my Flow’ (2025) is a meditation on creation and creativity, writing and the power of the imagination, grief and loss, chronic illness and cats. Nature and the shifting seasons are an anchor throughout and there is something here for almost every mood. There are poems that are immediately accessible and others that ask you to spend a little longer with them. Some that focus in on a buttercup, a spiderweb and others that contemplate the distance between the sun and the moon. A thought provoking collection that will make you want to slow down and linger in the moment.
For fans of Donna Ashworth and Mary Oliver.

[Sj Banham · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I was gifted this book in exchange for an honest review*

A beautifully presented book of poems. Over one hundred poems, some large and some tiny, each bringing you a moment to reflect.

Some of these managed to pierce my heart - no kidding either. I'm a writer but not a natural poet, that is I have a tough time bringing their meaning to the surface and connecting with my own words. However, reading but Michelle Heighway's book motivated to try a few of my own while experiencing a tough, personal time. Through Michelle, I've managed to put down my feelings into verse to help me process them.

Thoroughly recommended, even for those who don't usually turn to poetry. Give it a go.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read this book for free through Booksirens. I am not a big poetry reader, but I do enjoy it occassionally. This is one of the best bundels I’ve read. There is a lightness to the poems that I find really attractive. That doesn’t mean there isn’t depth and some poems do have a darker theme with deeper layers. However, it is the optimism, the wonder for everyday moments, the happiness that jumps from the pages that makes this collection stand out.