An Ode to Pith

- to Pablo Neruda The orange in the kitchen Fills the house with scent, Glowing like the sun glimpsed From the corner of my eye. But the skin wrinkles brown At the touch of the bowl, The flesh already collapsed Into the unreachable past. So I imagine its press upon my lips, Not caring it …

Mythaxis Poetry Competition

I have been asked to be a judge in the inaugural Mythaxis Poetry Competition (spoiler: I said yes). The theme is "Predictions of the future written in poetry". I'm greatly looking forward to seeing how everyone captures their visions of the future. The entry window 1 August–31 October 2020 so you have plenty of time …

Small Pleasures

I anticipate the current Covid-19 pandemic will have left many of you feeling both slightly worried and mildly bottled up. I hope these three haiku might give you a moment of joy and space. A star in the mist A calm heart need not test the Truth to perceive it Water in tumult Scattered with …

Renku with the Void

I start playing in a Legend of the Five Rings game on Wednesday. As the game is set in fantasy Japan, I was—(un)suprisingly—inspired to haiku. However, rather than a single verse, I challenged myself to create an entire cycle inspired by part of the world; which went well enough it I want to share it …

Cucku

A poetry community to which I belong selected one of my haiku for October Poem of the Month. Which obviously brought me joy, but also highlighted how subjective the experience of poetry can be. A little cuckoo Echoes from beneath my feet A cave in winter The haiku is part of an ongoing series shaped …

Share:

One of my weekly haiku has just been selected as the latest featured poem by the Poets Soul community on MeWe. Which seemed like a good reason to share it: Waters warming now Barriers melting away Darkness also freed

Invisible Fish Still Floating

Last week Joy Harjo was appointed US Poet Laureate. In a world of division, I feel joy that a country deeply flawed by overt white supremacy has appointed a member of the Mvskoke/Creek Nation as an avatar of its national soul. I couldn't find a recording of Joy herself reading my favourite of her works, …

Free Verse Revolution: The Collection (2010-2017) by Nicholas Gagnier

Driven by a mix of fear his life will have so little impact that his obituary will contain unnoticed spelling errors and a converse irony about the irrelevance of celebrity, Gagnier gathers poems that both showcase the arc of his life and gently mock the project as a naïve attempt to encapsulate something both complex …

Fleeting Ink by Miriam Joy

Joy weaves together hymns in praise of feeling rather than deconstructing poetry with evidence that words cannot be other than a structure around anything of actual meaning, elegantly capturing both the power of language to show reality and its failure. This collection contains twenty-nine of Joy’s poems inspired by the concept of writing. The eponymous …

A Flurry of Darkness

This image by the rather talented Ink Stitution was the photo prompt in one of the poetry communities to which I belong. Which inspired the haiku that follows. Fog obscures the path Monsters hide in the shadows Trust me to save you This post is dedicated to the myriad Goths who face another 364 days …