“I see all the things we write and publish as markers in time.”

Follow this link to my Substack page to find out what’s happening: Substack

side to side

You sent me a tape Three, four… Five states away. I listened Flipping it side to side In the old boombox, Drinking in the songs Like a drowning man Lost at sea. We spoke little in those days Before we didn't speak at all. You sent letters written in lyrics, A code for me to decipher. Flipping side to side, Searching for hidden truths And some answer to the question I could never bring myself To ask out loud. You fancied yourself a punk But the ribbons were filled With acoustic and folk - Lush guitars, Poems spoken and sung. I played them Until the tapes Were dirty and worn, Always flipping side to side. So many moons and Junes Have passed, Years of your silence While I tried to crack the code, Flipping side to side. I think that final letter Always said it all; The…

photo from pixabay (dimitrisvetsikas1969)

Bio: Victoria Bennett, (she/her).  Greater Boston, MA area, born WV.  Ph.D., English/Theater.  Website: creative-shadows.com.  In-Print: “Poems from the Northeast,” 2021; OOP but free to read on website: “Scenes de la Vie Americaine (en Paris),” [in English], 2022.  Between Fall 2021-Summer 2023, Victoria will have published at least 35 times with:  Fevers of the Mind Poetry & Art, Roi Faineant Literary Press, The Hooghly Review, The Unconventional Courier, Discretionary Love, Amphora Magazine, Barzakh Magazine, The Madrigal Press, Alien Buddha Press, Olympia Publishers, Winning Writers, Cult of Clio.  She has been accepted with 4 poems for the November 2023 issue of Dreich Magazine.  Victoria writes Fiction/Flash/Poetry/CNF/Essays.  She is the organizer behind the poets’ collective @PoetsonThursday on Twitter, along with Alex Guenther and Dave Garbutt.  Twitter:  @vicklbennett & @PoetsonThursday; Mastodon:  @vickileigh@mstdn.social & @vickileigh@writing.exchange.  Victoria is ocularly and emotionally disabled.

The Storehouse

“Come up, some time, for tea.” A…

The poem I wrote for Paul Brookes’ challenge and wasn’t able to post.

Wolf,

where are you?
I know you’re there, lying low.
Not in these quiet meadows
and wooded slopes perhaps,
but along Garonne’s broad reaches
harried by flood waters,
where farm buildings sink beneath the weight of ivy,
wooden planking falls like flakes of slate.

Wolf, where are you?
Down there amid the forest-tangle,
the woodland left untended,
plantations abandoned?
Where sounders of boar roam uncontested?
Where deer multiply undisturbed?

The hunters know, and they won’t tell,
won’t give you away,
they want your souls for their private tally.

I would know, would love to find a sign,
not to pry, your paths are your own,
to put your secret beneath protecting wings,

so, wolf, if you roam among these tangled trees
If you slip from shade to shade along the wild paths,
you may roam in silent…

I’ve missed a lot, even my Saturday visit to the Oracle. I’ll start to catch up tomorrow. Meanwhile, this is last week’s form, chosen by Paul Brookes.

I enjoy these very short, imagistic poems without the constraint of counting syllables. Looking on Wikipedia for examples, my browser took me to the French Wikipédia and it struck me that this form, like many short, imagist forms, is very much suited to the French language. I tried the form in English, both English and French, and in French. First attempts tended to be longer, possibly trying to add too much detail, and later poems much sparser, which is arguably more in the Japanese spirit.

Gogyohka

1.

rain falls and falls from grey oceans
sky colour of gulls and pigeons
laps shorelines of golden grasses
where kestrels hang
banners of long red wings

2.

mornings
grey as twilit cats
ripple into song
as…

Bio:

Married with grown-up children and grandchildren, Patricia M Osborne likes to paint pictures with words. She is a published novelist, poet and short fiction writer with five poetry pamphlets published by The Hedgehog Poetry Press, and numerous poems and short stories appearing in various literary magazines and anthologies. Her debut poetry pamphlet, Taxus Baccata, was nominated for the Michael Marks Pamphlet Award. Patricia has an MA in creative writing.

Patricia has a successful blog at Whitewingsbooks.com featuring other writers. When Patricia isn’t working on her own writing, she enjoys sharing her knowledge, acting as a mentor to fellow writers.

Twitter https://twitter.com/PMOsborneWriter

Website: https://whitewingsbooks.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/triciaosbornewriter

Little Green Suit

I cried at bath time, not wanting to go to bed, but Mum perched me on the counter, told me I was going out instead. She dressed me in a little green suit, two straps held the green-fleck pleated skirt in…