November Sixteenth
Devils in disguise by Marcel Herms
Katrina in the monastery by Terry Chipp
Katrina
Baptised in light,
dressed in white,
she is about to make her vows.
To forever be bound to prayers
until death ascends her
to her love above.
-Gaynor Kane
LITTLE DEVILS
Carry our devils
tandem them with love.
A double helix,
true life force.
On wars that rage,
we are the both sides
and as we sing
powerful anthems,
they are same song.
Deep runs duality.
Right and left,
victim and persecutor
all one.
the
Philosophy has
said and done.
We have cried
expressed pain.
Healed wounds
and let love
flow deep.
Until it is time
for sleep.
Within
all living things
is design.
Bound by chains
of love and hate.
After dreams
… all else is
but simple physics.
-© Dai Fry 15th November 2020.
Our Ladies of Assumption
People aren’t always who they say they are,
places aren’t always what they seem,
a smile does not always mean pleasure,
and sanctuary is not where we think to look.
Colour is not an indication of integrity,
and wealth means nothing more than privilege.
Sin is a figment of the imagination,
but misery is real, hunger hurts.
She sits in the cloistered quiet,
dressed in virginal white,
the collection box bursting with her offering.
In the street, children scratch for worms.
In the street, children scrabble, and
the painted prostitute dabs her eyes,
hands them her hard-won cash.
Small hands flutter in thanks like birds,
the world turns,
and the box, shaken,
rolls the same dice.
-Jane Dougherty
Katrina in the monastery
She sits, an L of light in the lower corner,
not quite confined by the frame. Her thoughts
reach toward the obscure doorway arch
and its floating shapes that configure themselves
like the ones we find behind
closed eyelids. A statue? A praying monk?
a parrot? another arch to deeper dark?
Hair like satin sunshine hides her face.
Her back and shoulders slightly hunch,
slim protection in the snowy gown.
-Holly York 2020
(Katrina In The Monastery)
“Enjoying Solitude”
Lack of stimulation provides
Time to gather thoughts
See things I hadn’t noticed before
I’ll be with you in a minute
(Devils In Disguise)
“Dances Between Dark and Light”
Gaudy beings because if not they’d fade away to nothing
As it happens they still fade, first leaving antagonising shadows on others –
They’re trying to stick around to anything that might have them
And initially that works
There’s great intrigue in pursuing what isn’t fully seen
When the whole truth is uncovered the devils have lost their power
-Lydia Wist
Rupert
The man behind the curtain wages spiritual war
pulling levers, casting spells. A succubus who visits
dreams of the powerful, pitches periapts and potions:
a heart, a brain, a pair of ruby slippers for safe
pandemic travel. Pick from his pocket of poisons.
This charlatan traffics in allegiance and betrayal,
switches sides for profit, a chameleon in a business
suit peddling sleazy paragraphs, anointing kings,
vaporizing heroes. Information is a puzzle worked
six ways; the picture never clear. Facts are malleable
in his hands, truth disguised as lies, lies curated
as truth. Disinformation to destabilize democracies,
raise despots and kings, mow them all under
as fodder for the masses to chew on. Confuse, evade,
repeat. Our glass house is a hall of mirrors swung
in all directions. No absolutes, no norms, no traditions
Nothing to cleave to in a storm. Roots extracted,
fake blood poured, lines drawn in shifting sand
Bandwidths blast bombastic stories, political fairytales
that self-destruct upon inspection, experts made
and broken in a single newscast. Anything goes.
Real no longer matters. Consume, regurgitate, repeat.
Brains on pulp fiction. The pretender smiles. We are
pushovers for truth-decay.
-Gayle J Greenlea
..day 16..
:: hiding ::
hiding could be the ultimate solution
some of us have adopted as per the guidelines
remember how you turned your back as a child
thought no one could see you
as you could not see them?
either that or go in disguise
a devil of an issue
..sbm..
Devils in the Monastery
I am tired
introversion, demands
multicoloured anarchy
middle-distanced portrait;
you lunatics, in line
staring at darkness
-Sarah Reeson
Bios and Links
-Terry Chipp
grew up in Thurnscoe and ia now living in Doncaster via Wath Grammar school, Doncaster Art College, Bede College in Durham and 30 years teaching.
He sold his first painting at the Goldthorpe Welfare Hall annual exhibition at the age of 17 and he haven’t stopped painting since.
He escaped the classroom 20 years ago to devote more time to his artwork. Since then he has set up his own studio in Doncaster, exhibited across the north of England as a member of the Leeds Fine Artists group and had his painting demonstrations featured on the SAA’s Painting and drawing TV channel. Further afield he has accepted invitations to work with international artists’ groups in Spain, Macedonia, Montenegro and USA where his paintings are held in public and private collections. In 2018 he had a solo exhibition in Warsaw, Poland and a joint exhibition in Germany.
His pictures cover a wide range of styles and subjects from abstract to photo-realism though he frequently returns to his main loves of landscape and people.
Visitors are welcome at his studio in the old Art College on Church View, Doncaster.
e-mail: terry@terrychipp.co.uk
Facebook: Terry Chipp Fine Art Painting
Instagram: @chippko.art
-Marcel Herms
is a Dutch visual artist. He is also one of the two men behind the publishing house Petrichor. Freedom is very important in the visual work of Marcel Herms. In his paintings he can express who he really is in complete freedom. Without the social barriers of everyday life.
There is a strong relationship with music. Like music, Herms’ art is about autonomy, freedom, passion, color and rhythm. You can hear the rhythm of the colors, the rhythm of the brushstrokes, the raging cry of the pencil, the subtle melody of a collage. The figures in his paintings rotate around you in shock, they are heavily abstracted, making it unclear what they are doing. Sometimes they look like people, monsters, children or animals, or something in between. Sometimes they disappear to be replaced immediately or to take on a different guise. The paintings invite the viewer to join this journey. Free-spirited.
He collaborates with many different authors, poets, visual artists and audio artists from around the world and his work is published by many different publishers.
www.marcelherms.nl
www.uitgeverijpetrichor.nl
-Jane Dougherty
writes novels, short stories and lots of poems. Among her publications is her first chapbook of poetry, thicker than water. She is also a regular contributor to Visual Verse and the Ekphrastic Review. You can find her on twitter @MJDougherty33 and on her blog https://janedougherty.wordpress.com/
-Peach Delphine
is a queer poet from Tampa, Florida. Infatuated with what remains of the undeveloped Gulf coast. Former cook. Has had poems in Cypress Press, Feral Poetry, IceFloe Press, Petrichor. Can be found on Twitter@Peach Delphine
-Dai Fry
is a poet living on the south coast of England. Originally from Swansea. Wales was and still is a huge influence on everything. My pen is my brush. Twitter:
@thnargg
Web: http://seekingthedarklight.co.uk
-Susan Darlington
Susan Darlington’s poetry regularly explores the female experience through nature-based symbolism and stories of transformation. It has been published in Fragmented Voices, Algebra Of Owls, Dreams Walking, and Anti-Heroin Chic among others. Her debut collection, ‘Under The Devil’s Moon’, was published by Penniless Press Publications (2015). Follow her @S_sanDarlington
-Holly York
lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her two large, frightening lapdogs. A PhD in French language and literature, she has retired from teaching French to university students, as well as from fierce competition in martial arts and distance running. She has produced the chapbooks Backwards Through the Rekroy Wen, Scapes, and Postcard Poetry 2020. When she isn’t hard at work writing poems in English, she might be found reading them in French to her long-suffering grandchildren, who don’t yet speak French.
-Gayle J. Greenlea
is an award-winning poet and counselor for survivors of sexual and gender-related violence. Her poem, “Wonderland”, received the Australian Poetry Prod Award in 2011. She shortlisted and longlisted for the Fish Poetry Prize in 2013, and debuted her first novel Zero Gravity at the KGB Literary Bar in Manhattan in 2016. Her work has been published in St. Julian Press, Rebelle Society, A Time to Speak, Astronomy Magazine, Headline Poetry and Press and The Australian Health Review.
-Helen Allison
lives in the North East of Scotland. Her first poetry collection ‘ Tree standing small’ was published in 2018 with Clochoderick Press. Her work has appeared in journals and magazines in print and online and she is working towards a second collection.
-Lydia Wist
Like someone who tries out hats or other samples before making a final decision, experimenting with different ideas and techniques is how Lydia spends some of her time. This allows for other portions of time to speak through the lens of fiction, creative nonfiction and art. You can find her work at Cargo Collective , Lydia Wist Creative and on Twitter @Lydiawist.
Website links:
https://cargocollective.com/lydiawist
https://www.facebook.com/lydiawistcreative/
-Sarah Connor
lives in the wild, wet, south-west of England, surrounded by mud and apple trees. She writes poems to make sense of the world, and would rather weed than wash up.
-sonja benskin mesher
-Liam Stainsby
holds a bachelor in English Literature and Creative Writing and is a secondary school teacher of English and Creative Writing. Liam is currently writing his first, professional collection of poetry entitled Borders that explores poetry from all around the world. Liam also Co-Hosts a movie discussion podcast entitled: The Pick and Mix Podcast. Liam writes under the pseudonym ‘Michael The Poet’
Links: WordPress: https://michael-the-poet.com/
Twitter: stainsby_liam
Instagram: Michael The Poet
-Sarah Reeson
is 54, married and a mother of two, who has been writing and telling stories since childhood. Over the last decade she has utilised writing not just as entertainment, but as a means to improve personal communication skills. That process unexpectedly uncovered increasingly difficult and unpleasant feelings, many forgotten for decades. Diagnosed as a historic trauma survivor in May 2019, Mental health issues had previously hindered the entirety of her adult life: the shift into writing as expression and part of a larger journey into self-awareness began to slowly unwind for her from the past, providing inspiration and focus for a late career change as a multidisciplined artist.
Website: http://internetofwords.com
-Gaynor Kane
is a Northern Irish poet from Belfast. She has two poetry pamphlets, and a full collection, from Hedgehog Poetry Press, they are Circling the Sun, Memory Forest and Venus in pink marble (2018, 2019 and Summer 2020 respectively). She is co-author, along with Karen Mooney, of Penned In a poetry pamphlet written in response to the pandemic and due for release 30th November 2020. Follow her on Twitter @gaynorkane or read more at www.gaynorkane.com.
Anindita Sengupta
is the author of Walk Like Monsters (Paperwall, 2016) and City of Water (Sahitya Akademi, 2010). Her work has appeared in anthologies and journals such as Plume, 580 Split, One and Breakwater Review. She is Contributing Editor, Poetry, at Barren Magazine. She has received fellowships and awards from the Charles Wallace Trust India, the International Reporting Project, TFA India and Muse India. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California. Her website is http://aninditasengupta.com
The Wombwell Rainbow 