Volume 1 includes contributions from myself (David L O’Nan), HilLesha O’Nan, Rob Z photography, Ankh Spice, Catrice Greer, the Poetry Question & Chris Margolin, Jenna Faccenda, Ethan Jacob O’Nan, Icefloe Press, Robert Frede Kenter, Moira J Saucer Darren Demarree, Abdulmueed Balogun, Bradley Galimore, Anisha Kaul, Foy Timms, David Ralph Lewis, Paul Brookes, Sidney Mansueto, Lawrence Moore, Karen Mooney, Jenny Mitchell, Makund Gnanadesikan, James Lilley, Richard Waring, Vern Fein, Ediney Santana, Rachael Ikins, Samantha Terrell, Al Matheson, Ceinwed C E Haydon, Will Schmit, Dai Fry, Barney Ashton-Bullock, M.S. Evans, Megha Sood, Jane Rosenberg LaForge, Matthew M C Smith, Lucy Whitehead & Merril Smith as well as an interview with Americana/Indie/Punk musician Austin Lucas
Volume 2 includes contributions from myself (David L…
An unlikely traveler, with no longing for adventure, only a desire to live without fear.
Money exchanged, his life rearranged– one suitcase and a view of storm-chased clouds and waves like horses, galloping toward a hazy horizon, somewhere ahead
perhaps, there’s a quiet island, a house with windows looking out on azure sky and singing seas, golden-downed ducks and geese with bicycle horn honks—he laughs, it would be
a dream, he thinks, as a whale breaches–and for a moment they are eye-to-eye, connected, branches of the same ancestral tree– all of us–swaying to a universal rhythm. Shuffle, slide, snap, and with jazz hands twirl, smile. Tilt your head, in wonder
Rance floor, fer de lance rhythmically coils, life a trance oceanic sea gardens.
CO14
Transformed world, no more romantic nature’s wings clipped, emptying boundless skies existence ensnared in the web of wires, in weeded boxes fixed while digital receptive kist beams hellish pleasures. No sanctuary sacred, but an unseen flame burning away worth.
MH14
Life is a journey not only of body but of mind and soul a spiritual time line unseen unrecorded , on land, in sea Like it like a journey through a book or on a map whole from state to state from river to river from pole to pole I see oceans with marine life, reefs cut out, weeds waving in the deep, yet I see printed words spread across, hiding Fears of pollution germs hinder the aesthetics but perceive the stirrings of this universe, travel far with inner eye, receive Seek the good of all and you shall feel the wonder of nature the joy of beauty and truth of art and the Great Artificer.
-Anjum Wasim Dar
KR 14.
Meadow ofLust
Pause, just to take a deep breath Follow the smell of flowers Arrive at the meadow of lust Feel sun on skin
Dance with heart’s passion Run and jump as frolicking deer Fly free, feel wind on wings Worship by sweat and toil
Leap like a dolphin Dive deep, hear sea songs Warble and chirp like a songbird Sing life’s sweet joy
Flutter like a butterfly Experience all Soar like an eagle See everything anew Gain soul wisdom
Purr like a cat, cuddle in sunshine Stalk like a lion, find soft touch Be faithful in heart and soul Love free
An unlikely traveler, with no longing for adventure, only a desire to live without fear.
Money exchanged, his life rearranged– one suitcase and a view of storm-chased clouds and waves like horses, galloping toward a hazy horizon, somewhere ahead
perhaps, there’s a quiet island, a house with windows looking out on azure sky and singing seas, golden-downed ducks and geese with bicycle horn honks—he laughs, it would be
a dream, he thinks, as a whale breaches–and for a moment they are eye-to-eye, connected, branches of the same ancestral tree– all of us–swaying to a universal rhythm. Shuffle, slide, snap, and with jazz hands twirl, smile. Tilt your head, in wonder
of the world. He wants the dance to continue.
-Merril D Smith
ThewhiteroomCO14
I am wrapped in sheets which spread into space blank cells in which I am confined with no formula they have pierced my body like a chip cutter I am split into cells this room is a cell the city is a grid the sky is a grid please save
NatureVogueKR14
this pretty crowd fires limbs in a riot of poised misfits one rogue cloud can’t overshadow this outfit stepping out loud on a wave of daring combinations no ugly creatures or dried up blooms allowed
-Hilary Otto
MH14 and KR14 Armchair Travel
I don’t like travel. I’d rather envision from cell-like stillness the dancing tree of life. It blooms hibiscus, sunflower, bachelor button. Chaotic choreography of claws, paws, and fins. Dog, cat, llama, rabbit, killer whale the size of a crab, tortoise and seahorse. Speaking of horse, a flying blue to match a flightless origami bird. But then a cardinal not much smaller than an elephant. And humanity! six legs, five faces and hands, more or less. I couldn’t tell from my home in the cell. I’ll never summit the dancing tree of life because it won’t stand still.
–Holly York
DancingTreeOfLife – KR13
I’m so happy; I’ve learnt so much today. A deer ! A butterfly on it’s way. How tall shall I grow ? I’m sure I’ll get to know. A cardinal (I shall not sin), a racing horse I’m sure will win. I’m so fulfilled with all the learning. I shall succeed with all this yearning. Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow. Dance, dance, dance; The way to go.
13,Ja,2021 for the fourteenth of. -Alan Gary Smith, inspired by Paul Brookes and the painter Kiroji Roige.
is an artist working in glass, metal, fibre and paint. Sometimes her work is based on photographs, but more often, she creates in the moment. She loves to play with texture and colour.
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.
RedCat’s love for music and dance sings clearly in The Poet’s Symphony (Raw Earth Ink, 2020). Passion for rhythms and rhymes, syllabic feets and metres. All born out of childhood and adolescence spent reading, singing, dancing and acting.
Her writing spans love, life, mythology, environment, depression and surviving trauma.
Originally from the deep woods, this fiery redhead now makes home in Stockholm, Sweden, where you might normally run into her dancing the night away in one of the city’s techno clubs.
is a historian and poet. She lives in southern New Jersey, where she is inspired by her walks along the Delaware River. She’s the author of several books on history, gender, and sexuality. Her poetry has been published in journals and anthologies, including Black Bough Poetry, Nightingale and Sparrow, Anti-Heroin Chic, and Fevers of the Mind.
-Godefroy Dronsart
is a writer, teacher, and musician currently residing near Paris. His poetry has appeared in Lunar Poetry, PostBLANK, Paris Lit Up, The Belleville Park Pages, and Twin Pies Literary among others. His first chapbook, “The Manual” (Sweat Drenched Press, 2020), explores the space between poetry, prose, and gamebooks. He has a sweet tooth for all things experimental, modernist, and strange. Follow him on Twitter and his Bandcamp for electronic explorations.
-Joy Fleming
Born in County Down, Joy has studied, mothered and worked in Scotland since 1980. Brief excursions to follow her heart, back to NI mid-1990’s and England for first round Covid-lockdown ’19, Joy is currently back living in Glasgow. Joy’s first poem was accepted as part of the C. S. Lewis themed Poetry Jukebox curation A Deeper Country in Belfast in 2019. This poem, Ricochet was published in The Poets’ Republic Issue 8 Autumn 2020. A love of reading poetry is now accompanied by sporadic writing of poetic lines which spill out as an apparent by-product of processing dark and sorrowful days.
-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.
-Alan Gary Smith
A Lincolnshire Ludensian living in Grimsby who built up his poetic stance after visiting Doncaster and Mexborough during his real ale and comedic music searches. Surprised to find a recent DNA check leaned heavily towards being a strong mix of Scottish, East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. A sixty year old baldy who loves Julie, astronomy and chocolate; after giving up on football and telly.
-Hilary Otto
is an English poet based in Barcelona. Her work has featured in Popshot, Black Bough Poetry, AIOTB, Ink, Sweat and Tears, and The Blue Nib, among other publications. She received her first Pushcart Prize Nomination and performed at the Cheltenham Poetry Festival. She tweets at @hilaryotto
-Jim young
is an old poet living in Mumbles on The Gower. He does most of his writing from his beach hut at Rotherslade – still waiting for the blue plaque
Anjum Wasim Dar was born in Srinagar (Indian Occupied )Kashmir, She is a migrant Pakistani.Educated at St Anne’s Presentation Convent Rawalpindi she has a Masters degree in English Literature and History ( Ancient Indo-Pak Elective) CPE Cert.of Proficiency in English from Cambridge UK. , a Diploma in TEFL from AIOU Open Uni. Islamabad Pakistan. She has been writing poems,
articles and stories since 1980.A published poet Anjum was awarded Poet of Merit Bronze Medal in 2000 by ISP International Society of Poets and poetry.com USA .
She has worked as Creative Writer at Channel 7 Adv. Company Islamabad, and as a Teacher Educator for Fauji Foundation Education Network Inservice Teachers
Recently, I was invited over to PoemByPoem, Saving the World one Poem at a Time by fantastic fellow poet Annick Yerem to take part in an interview with some of the best questions I have ever had to stop and consider. 15 more words
This new lockdown, I am writing in my notebooks again, letting what emerges, emerge. You can read about the Lockdown Poems here – their immediacy, their rootedness in my place.
Once again, I have begun writing what I see, and what is before me in this moment. Whereas the earlier poems, starting in March, are largely written outside, this one is about looking out. Beginning to write is a revealing thing. As I proceeded, I felt that what I was exploring was that sensation of being stuck inside – looking out, but not with longing. I am looking out at a world that is far from inviting. Cold, wet, and darkening as it is. Once again, that small moment, that everyday feeling of watching the rain, seemed to unfold and reveal a wider and deeper difficulty. Not so much of being stuck inside, but of not wanting to venture out…
Last Friday, 8th Jan, I was honoured to be invited by Cheltenham Poetry Festival to be their featured poet at their online zoom reading along with the excellent and incandescent Catrice Greer, a mind-blowingly amazing collection of poets who took part in the open mic and the best smiley-faced and supportive audience you could ever…
Kerfe Roig – Clarity Many faceted kaleidoscopic gemSparkling all wavelengths of lightFiery passion interlaced with dark mayhemLight and dark in a perpetual fight Sparkling all wavelengths of lightComplex weave, carefully crafted hologramLight and dark in a perpetual fightBetween bright joy and dank sorrows dam Complex weave, carefully crafted hologramHiding behind social media. All’s fine!Between bright […]
Israel Eliraz (1936-2016) was born in Jerusalem. From 1963 to 1980, he published three novels, a book of short stories and a number of plays and opera librettos. He started writing poetry in 1980. He was the recipient of numerous Israeli literary awards, as well as an Honorary Citation by the French government. His poetry […]
The Wombwell Rainbow 