Poem: The Celestial Guide

I may encounter dead bodies,But a Celestial Guide’s roleIs too important to be forced from my path.These fractured souls would be lost,Doomed to eternally driftAs gleaming motes in the cosmos.“Journey with me in love and curiosity.”I invite these once-livingSpecks of consciousness.Most settle in my outstretched handAnd are enfolded to my heart;We soar through creation to […]

Poem: The Gloaming Tower

The Gloom Knights stand a timeless watch.Umbral guardians, cloaked in twilight, sentinels o’er the deaths of Kings.Past those furnaced forms, dread path snakes deep into Darkwood.At the forest’s thorned heart, the raised fist of The Gloaming TowerPunches the stars;Defies fair or foul, fiend or fey, to dare essay its cold ramparts.Those who resisted were broken, […]

Poem: We Rouse with It

Waters ripple and flashWith spring light and zephyr’s caress.Pigeons coo and bow in hopeful courtship.Black heron stretches majestic on a buoy;Untroubled by a preening drake,Or the seagull bobbing a mid-flight break,Cajoled by his impatient tribe.Waking trees whisperOf warm times to come.Spring has sprung.And we rouse with it. #BreakingBard

Poem: Knapsack of Stones

He carried his pastLike a knapsack of stones.Hung its bones from his shoulders,Proud in the weighty embraceOf his habit of office.Of tradition.Of history.But his storyIs not yet finished.If he could but unclasp the cloak,Shrug off the straps,He would walk taller. #BreakingBard

Poem: Spring

Steel-blue sky smiles benignant,Wide as a long-unseen mother’s welcome;Sheep cluster like barnaclesOn the flanks of rolling whale-hills.Breathe deep of this waking sun.Feel the green land’s tumescent vigour.Birds frisk and frolicIn air silvered by pollen;Insects hum and crackleIn industrious melody.And I?I sit.Look.Simply be.Sit with me. #BreakingBard

Poem: Pierrick’s Pass

In a sky fluffed wideClouds drift, helping sun shy-hide;The wind roars outside. Wetlands froth and foam,As waking storms rage and roam,Seeking haven-home. Yet alder tree bends;Grasses whisper; oak contends.Summer makes amends. Weather tempest’s ire with friends. #BreakingBard

Poem: The Sleep of Babes

Here and now, upon the witching hour,Rest you swaddled in the sleep of babes;Unaware of the darkness without.Or within.Suffer not these truths:Family slain by our own hand,Wells of unending despairAnd ceaseless diminishing,Faceless infidelity with unknown lovers,Humiliation’s mocking cage.We scream silent in loud-torn minds,As nightmares feed on our fears.But here and now, upon the witching hour,Rest […]

Poem: Portals (World Poetry Day 2024)

There are doorways in the mist;Ephemeral portals to real placesAnd other times.The spirit Fabius tells me this is a nexus;Points out the other doorwaysAround the glade,His spectral form bleeding ceaselesslyFrom the gladii of his unit’s betrayal. His men are darker shadowsBut dare not approach me,Full of real life as I am.He raises an arm in […]

Review: ‘Children of Time’ by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Let me start off by simply saying this is an excellent novel. It has wide breadth and scope, reminding me of Olaf Stapledon’s ‘Last and First Men’ in that respect, or Herbert’s ‘Dune’ series, and contains some moments of beautifully written prose. The characterisation and worldbuilding are three-dimensional, deep, nicely nuanced, and fully-formed, which is […]

Poem: The Place

I enjoyed participating in a Hightide workshop with Nicola Werenowska on Wednesday, looking at writing place – whether in plays, poetry, prose, etc. Here are two options for poems I came up with – let me know if you prefer one or the other! This is the place where rough bark smoothed brows.This is the […]