It's Christmas now and time to have some funit is the season so they say of joyit could be me, that I’m the only onewho wonders if it’s just a crazy ploy With master cards unsheathed we make our wayinto the labyrinths of shops and storesthe presents bought will surely make our daythe gifts we... Continue Reading →
Festive Sonnet Sunday: A Laden Sleigh by Nick Reeves
A laden sleigh on this Christmas EveRiding high over rooftop and streamIs magical to those who believe –Children and lovers and sleepers in dream * Let’s dress the trees with tinsel and bowsLet them clothe us with black forest smellsSnowflakes and moonbeams will fill the windowsAnd all will ring with baubles and bells. * On... Continue Reading →
Festive Sonnet Sunday: The Ghosts of Christmas Past
I mutter ‘bah-humbug’ beneath my breaththroughout this season of enforced good cheerwhen we must never speak of loss, nor deathalthough the loss is all to great to bear: Lost loved ones I remember, candlelightrecalls your living flame snuffed out too soon;gaudy illuminations shine not half as brightas you did when your love-light filled the room.... Continue Reading →
🎄Special Announcement: Festive Sonnet Sunday!🎄
After the success of Halloween Sonnet Sunday, I am excited to announce that the next Seasonal Sonnet Festival will take place on 19 December 2021, and the theme will be festivity! Wherever you are in the world, and whatever seasonal festival you celebrate at this time of year, you are welcome to join in the... Continue Reading →
A Diesel and A Steamy: Ollie’s first #poem!
Once upon a timethere was a diesel and a steamychuffing down the tracks:the diesel was oilingand the steamy was chuffing and puffingbut then he stopped and did his breaksbut the diesel didn’tso he crashed!Then the rescue car cameand rescued all the people! A poem by Ollie, aged 4! I am delighted to say that my... Continue Reading →
Wild Forms #poetry #dVerse
The mountains were wild forms, or monstrous shapeswhich towered above the moonlit lakeside roadforeign to me as the stars abovewhich were obscured by streetlights in my town.How I feared those dark foreboding heights!And even in the day, the scree could sendyou tumbling down the hillside like a doll:it was enough to keep me for a... Continue Reading →
The Anthropocene Hymnal is Live!
Welcome to this hotly-anticipated poetry event, at which many of the contributors to The Anthropocene Hymnal will read their poems. I am holding the event as a way to mark the COP-26 climate conference in Glasgow. I dearly wish that I could be there to take part in some poetry-themed protesting! To join us online,... Continue Reading →
My review of ‘Woman: Splendor and Sorrow’ by Gabriela Marie Milton
I have just finished reading Woman: Splendor and Sorrow, the second poetry and short prose collection from the exceptionally talented Gabriela Marie Milton. It is no word of a lie to say that the book transported me, to a world, not only of the senses, but to the association of those senses with all that... Continue Reading →
‘Beautiful Things’ published at MasticadoresUSA!
Thank you to editor Gabriela Marie Milton for publishing my poem at MasticadoresUSA today. I am truly grateful for the support and encouragement Gabriela has shown me during my time writing poetry on WordPress. I know that Gabriela is very busy professionally, but she always takes the time to offer kind words of support to... Continue Reading →
Sleepy Hollow by Ivor Steven #SonnetSunday
We come from a land down-underWhere men eat green pumpkin and cucumberOur bayside town is called Sleepy HollowWhere the nights are too quiet for owls and swallowsHere, Halloween spirits live beyond the outer limitsAnd are only allowed to visit at sunset's dying minutes During the full moon’s twilight zoneWe drink goanna juice from orange conesAnd... Continue Reading →