JZ21

SK21

SEB21

Tree of Life


Like pillars anchoring two worlds.

branches to the universe

roots to the underworld

resilient and enduring

balance and harmony

strength against chaos

and destruction

the cycle of nature, life, death, rebirth.


Lean your back

against a column

breath in slowly, exhale

absorbing wisdom through the trunk

bark communicating knowledge

the unity of all things

the flow of time

the cycle of life, death, rebirth.


Amongst the roots

The woven threads of destiny

are spun

your future plotted

Your time allotted

the Norns have danced their dance

the road to take already chosen

the cycle of nature, life, death, rebirth.


-SEB 21 by John Curry


Jz 21


She is a Galaxy

She does not enter a room.
She alters it.
Space shifts.
Silence leans in.

She does not speak much.
Words are unnecessary
when her presence
pulls everything inward.

You notice the way time slows.
Not stops.
But stretches.
As if it too wants more of her.

She is not made of moments.
She is made of the spaces between them.

Eyes that hold constellations
no telescope can name.
Skin like dusk.
The hour where the sky remembers
it can still burn quietly.

She is not fire.
She is the force that holds fire in place.

And if you look too long,
you will not fall.
You will drift,
quietly,
inevitably,
into her orbit.

Not lost.
Just finally found.


SEB 21


Rooted Conversations

Two souls sit beneath a sky turning amber,
Silent branches arching like listening ears.
A story begins. Not loud, not grand, just real.
Each word a seed, falling softly into soil already longing.

Roots stir. Not of trees alone,
But of hearts remembering what it is to be heard,
What it is to be held by something as fragile as a voice
And as strong as understanding.

Nothing moves, yet everything shifts

SK 21

Circle of Life

In a cradle of color, the still pond breathes.
Guarded by stone and a garland of leaves,
a monk in silence, hands in prayer,
feels the pulse of all that is.

A rabbit listens with heart open.
Flowers lean toward the water’s edge.
Above, a monkey watches, holding a stem.
The air is soft with knowing.

The stillness holds more than silence.
It carries the weight of unseen prayers,
offered by roots, by wind, by presence.
The monk does not seek.
He listens.

Stones remember.
The water does not hurry.
A flower opens without asking why.
Everything belongs.

-Rituparna


Seb 21 Sharing a story

If you have time
we could sit under a tree
recall a story
to lift our spirits
pass some time away 
drawing in the scent of summer

-Francis H. Powell


21  Sharing the story


Rooted


We are rooted 

to this place.

Tendrils of love

and life

reaching down,

stretching out;

telling our stories

to each other,

to the trees

and the world.



The trees tell 

us their stories too,

guardians, watchers,

denizens

of a dying world.


-Debbie Ross

Artworker Bios

Jenn Zed
Ms. Zed is an artist, writer, and musician who lives in Bath, England, with the ghost of her cat.
She studied art, art history, and design MA at Bath and Cambridge Universities.

Sara Elizabeth Bell

Says:

I’ve always loved drawing. It’s a form of meditation for me and has now become a way for me to find peace and sanity when my world gets too overwhelming, which, as a single mom with a neuro-divergent teen, happens quite often. When it does, I follow John Muir’s quote, “Off into the woods I go to loose my mind and find my soul.”
The results of those trips are  sketches of the forests around me and photos. I work from the photos to create my watercolors and intaglio prints. I hope you enjoy them and can find a place in your home to adopt one or more.

Spriha Kant

Spriha Kant is an English poetess, book reviewer, and digital artist. She has been published in some anthologies — “Hidden in Childhood” and “We Are The Waves,” to name a few. Her poems have also been published in the seventh issue of “Reflections,” the well-known literary magazine “Prosetrics.” She has been the Guest of honor in the award-winning show “Victoria in Verse” (Bloomsbury Radio, London). Her interviews can be read at feversofthemind.com & and brokenspine.co.uk. Her quotes are published as an epigraph and a blurb in Magkasintahan Volume VI & Swiped Right [both books published by Ukiyoto Publishing, Philippines], respectively. Her artwork can be seen in a webzine called “The Starbeck Orion” and on thewombwellrainbow.com.

Writer Bios

Debbie Ross,

Debbie is a poet, author, artist, photographer, and baker. She lives 400m from the sea, in the far north Scottish Highlands, and can be mostly be found in the kitchen, at the beach, or at her writing table.

Matt Guntrip,

Matt Guntrip is a guitarist, song writer and indie musician from the UK. He has published four albums & five singles via CD Baby, available on most channels. He was a nominated solo artist on the New Music Generator Show, Cambridge 105FM.

Through creative writing he explores themes of nature, time, love, loss, rejection, injustice and hope, with a view to learning, improving and thus to writing better songs.

Matt’s writing has been published in The Belfast Review, The Broken Spine,  Fevers of The Mind, Folkheart Press Blog, GAS Poetry (YouTube), The Starbeck Orion (Substack) & The Wombwell Rainbow website.

Donna Faulkner,

Donna  Faulkner lives in a cottage in Rangiora, New Zealand with her husband , two sons and Emily, the black Labrador.  She’s been published in 300 Days of Sun, Havik, Windward Review, Havik, Fieldstone Review,  New Myths, Bacopa Literary Review and others. Her debut poetry book ‘In Silver Majesty’ was published by erbacce press(UK) 2024. 

Instagram @lady_lilith_poet/ Twitter @nee_miller. https://linktr.ee/donnafaulkner

John Curry

John is a late comer to the world of poetry. A regular attendee at Doncaster Read 2 Write and still very much searching for his voice.
John has a pen and he has paper the window is open and he’s ready for the muse to float by and whisper in his ear.

Anish Gupta,

Dr. Anish K. Gupta is an Indian urologist and an impassioned poet who writes mainly in English but also dabbles in Hindi and Urdu. His work seamlessly intertwines the exactitude of medical science with the subtleties of human emotion. Grounded in the complementary realms of medicine and art, his path reflects a profound quest for understanding, healing, and the expression of love and life. In the operating room or on the page, Dr. Gupta delves into the intricacies of both body and soul, approaching each with care, curiosity, and compassion. His poetry captures the subtle epiphanies of daily life, the fragility of the human condition, and the deep connections between love and existence. He goes by the #uropoet on X where his handle is @optionurol.

Phil Hyde,

GP Hyde was born on the Wirral and now lives in Grimsby. He studied art at Goldsmith’s and at the Royal Academy Schools. His fiction has been extensively published by Pure Slush. His poetry has been published by Black Bough Press, Hedgehog Press, Written Off, the Dark Poets and voidspacezine

Rituparna,

Rituparna Ghosh is an alumna of the National University of Singapore, an AI engineer, and the founder of Whizzstep. With a passion for poetry, she enjoys crafting verses, particularly in the genres of free verse and reflective poetry. A lover of nature, Rituparna finds peace in her walks by the beach, where the tranquility of the ocean inspires both her creativity and personal reflection. Coding is her profession, and she thrives on solving complex problems through technology. She also has a deep love for traveling, reading, learning new languages, and horse riding, connecting with the outdoors in a unique and fulfilling way.

Francis H Powell,

Judy Smith ,

Judy Smith lives in East Yorkshire. Retired from a career in health and education, she is an emerging poet. She has had poems published in several anthologies, including Spelt, 14, Black Bough, Artemis, High Wolds, Dreich, York Literary Review, The Starbeck Orion. She has a passion for wildlife gardening and community tree planting.

Sheikha A,

Sheikha A. is from Pakistan and United Arab Emirates. Her poems appear in a variety of literary venues both print and online, and some of them have been translated into 8 languages so far. More about her can be found at sheikha82.wordpress.com

John Armstrong,

John Armstrong is a poet whose work blends metaphysical inquiry with vivid, elemental imagery. Drawing from a deep reverence for nature, memory, and the cosmic, Armstrong’s poetry explores dualistic and trinitarian themes of love, transformation, and the spiritual texture of existence.Armstrong sees poetry not merely as a literary form but as a living, animistic force—language shaped by the earth itself. His work is a personal quest, a surrender to the unknown, finding beauty in ambiguity and meaning in the mist between words and life.

Spare time: He grows Cosmos flowers and wills them on way past the first frosts.

Saraswati Nagpal,

John Wolf

Creative writing tutor, poet, storyteller for Read To Write. Taught Beowulf, Odyssey, and Troy; Gilgamesh is coming in October. First poetry collection entitled Heroes (Glasshead Press, 2022). New collection, Historia, out summer 2025. Featured on Radio Sheffield, CAST, Little Theatre, Doncaster Ukranian Centre, Artbomb, Doncaster Foodbank Festival, Under Milk Wood and Women of Troy. 

Oormila V. Prahlad

is a widely published Indian-Australian artist and poet. She lives and works on traditional Gammergal land. Find her on Instagram @oormila_paintings

SEB21