*****

Estill Pollock’s latest poetry collections, Entropy, Time Signatures and the forthcoming  Ark, are published in the United States by Broadstone Books, and are available through Amazon and Blackwell’s (Oxford) online catalogue.

You can read further long poems by Estill here: January 23, 2022, July 26, 2022 andOctober 25, 2022   

*****

UNDERTOW

1. Ronnie

I knew a man with HATE
across his knuckles—prison tat: the others, Mom
and a Marines’ banner, globe and eagle
inked across pumped biceps.

We worked night shift flipping burgers
at a dump on the bypass—he chopping cabbage
for the coleslaw while I took
orders at the counter.

The boss said keep him from the cash—
his first job since he got out, so
no point tempting fate.

He called me ‘hippie kid’ and told me
get a haircut—his usual comment
for everything: ’Oh for Christ sake,’ followed by,
‘The…

WE WERE WINGS

Memories flow around our bodies
from the heart of the rain this morning,
we are empty. Sorrow pulses through 
memories, swallows up our noisy minds. 
We are absorbed by water,
and can feel the sounds of ocean, 
as something familiar is dawning 
deep within us every morning, 
then it disappears again. Memories of us 
have the roots right in the air.
We were the wings for each other, 
but stillness breaks before dawn, 
in the name of all that’s hailed, 
and face it all— 
the past remains unclaimed, 
driven forth by faith.

GOODBYE ALL THE LEAVES “Walk on,” I said to myself and turned around, when the wind blows, the shadows change. “Walk on,” I said and continued the path, we know the rules— the light’s gate trough the wall of darkness. So, goodbye all the leaves under the turquoise sky, goodbye all the leaves above the…

photo from pixabay

Depression

Depression is having rhinos in your soul,
live chained to the clock of emotional terror.

Depression is spiritual blight, komodo dragons lying in our bed.
Depression is a slow, sadistic death, depression feeds on our time.
Depression is giving up on loving even before we have someone to love.

I'm cheerful, but I'm not happy.
It is possible to be depressed and smile.
The serrisos hide what kills us inside.
Don't tell the depressed person: be strong, be brave, it all depends on you.

If you think that to overcome depression
 it's all about willpower, 
you don't know what it's like to live with that monster in your soul.
They're all happy, not me, I just want to
wake up and live one day at a time, in peace next to love.




Bio: Ediney Santana was born in Brazil, is a poet, novelist and composer. Write…

*****

Philip Gross: TheThirteenth Angel• Thomas Kinsella: Last Poems• Clive Donovan: Wound Up with Love • Nicholas Murray: Elsewhere: Collected Poems of Nicholas Murray • Harold Massingham: Selected Poems

*****

The Thirteenth Angel by Philip Gross, 2022. £12. Bloodaxe Books. ISBN 978-1-78037-635-6 Reviewed by Jill Sharp

Philip Gross has form when it comes to angels. His 2009 T S Eliot Prize-winning collection The Water Table begins with a poem describing water surging through the gates of a lock: how it curves and feathers like an angel’s wings. Throughout that superb collection his interest in the qualities of water, transparency and indeed angels, becomes vividly apparent.

The Thirteenth Angel, his 27th book of poetry, is another refreshingly outward-looking collection, comprising a series of long, descriptive/contemplative pieces interleaved with shorter poems. Reading the whole book is a deeply absorbing, enlightening and thought-provoking experience…

Stepmothers in Fairy Tales

They are dangerously sexy
and always married to a king,
generic wealthy man or stonecutter,
living out their tumultuous lives
in the first wife's home, altered first
of course; scarlet-draped boudoirs, gothic
windows opening on to moors
where deformed trees loom.
They harm stepchildren in
enchanted forests by incising 
their subcutaneous fat with blue light
turning them into swans, proffering 
poisonous fruit or exposing them
to the vagaries of witches. They have a thing
for mirrors, lakes and strange headgear.
Age toughens them; keratin scales within 
their nails and hair. When they die, it is 
by bitter herbs, their spirit thrashing 
like a hammerhead shark, never 
in history going down without a fight.

*originally published in Fiona's first collection of poetry, Alchemy (Turas Press, Dublin, 2020)Altered State Oh Father, this forest is a labyrinth I have caught sight of the flying saints you sent to…

Poem 1

We wonder in shadows
of previous lovers.

and the sun drenches our
shadow with memories of
Bruce Springsteen.

And you won't forget me.
And I won't forget the way
you loved me nor will I
forget the way I loved myself.

Poem 2

Subterranean sheets of melody 
hang around your neck 
I can only see it 
nobody else can
and there is a moonbeam
in between us
in between lost memories  
from Nagasaki 
I hold its goodness in mg
green tweed jacket's pocket 
with a lapel shaped like
your lips 
I feel it alive 
do you?

Poem 3 A deluge of Bob Dylan as The next Pope of mankind And it's a cold Febuary day and lyrics come when I need them the most a maxim tied to my fat thighs and God needs me, I don't need you, and stitched to my neck is you a straitjacket…

I’m delighted to feature Swanwick writer, Rik Lonsdale on the launch of his debut novel Water and Blood. Rik has blogged about his inspiration.

Why I Wrote Water and Blood

Rik Lonsdale

To complete the marathon of writing a novel I knew it would need to have meaning for me on a personal level as well as being a good story. I believe climate change is very real, and we cannot know how it will impact on our societies, but it was something I wanted to write about. I didn’t want to write a far-future story set beyond a time that is recognisable but wanted to write about what might happen immediately after a disaster caused by climate change.

BUY

I’d read extensively about the glacier shrinkage. If all the ice in Greenland fell into the sea it would increase sea levels by six metres. But that could only…

Patricia’s Pen is delighted to introduce debut author, Anita Chapman, with her new release The Venice Secret. Anita has come along to blog about what inspired her to write this brand new historical fiction novel. Without further ado, it’s over to Anita.

Inspiration behind The Venice Secret

Anita Chapman

When I write a book, it starts with one simple idea and then I think of more pieces that I want to include to make a story. Often, the story grows naturally as I spend time thinking about it during those quieter moments such as when driving or walking.

With The Venice Secret, I’d had the idea of someone discovering a hidden painting in a loft for a while. This kind of thing happens all of the time and finding something potentially valuable somewhere in your house is something many of us dream about.

When my children were…