Happy New Year to all our readers! To get 2021 off to a fabulous start, I’m delighted to invite poet, Fiona Perry, to talk about a poem from her stunning collection, Alchemy, surely one of the ‘must-read’ collections of 2020.

First, thank you so much, Nigel, for giving me this opportunity to reveal a bit more about the poem Brown Snake Awakens in the Everywhen from Alchemy (Turas Press), my first collection. I very much enjoy reading other poets’ contributions on your blog. This poem was inspired by a brief encounter with a brown snake whilst walking around Lake Monger in Western Australia. Often my poetry involves the unravelling of a memory, and occasionally animals appear in a symbolic way. Even though I had been living in Australia for a while, there was still something shocking and primeval about a snake crossing my path. The poem didn’t emerge…