What the Spider Knows It hangs on a hotel window, over a still canal reflecting the dough-rolled Dutch sky, It knows nothing about the gander guarding goslings feeding on the canal bank, neck arched, head flicking. It knows nothing about ducks clapping through the air, the planes landing at Schipol a constant thread of steel. It knows about its web which it painstakingly threads, tightens, to catch all those who fly. Make a New Nest Fresh from leaving Germany, we summer retreat with my wife’s parents in White Salmon, resting broken wings before the next take-off. The first three stumbling days my father-in-law takes us to the Historic Columbia River Highway, to the secret spot handed down from friend to friend: sixth white fence, flattened grass, exact gap in the treeline to find what most passing bikers and runners miss: an eagle’s nest, the champion of tree homes, a huge hand to hold one metre tall overgrown fledgling, late to leave, leaping between branches to balance, wobbling in the hot winds, unfolding sedimentary wings to practise tidal pumping of air through earth feathers. The currents call her but she’s not willing to let go, claws clinging to mother wood, folding wings back under water. Bald white head four years away. Instead she sits, stares past the suspicious absence of siblings, over the groaning State highway, the white flecked river, bankside lumber and fruit factories, sewage ponds and pipes, and peeking over the high yellow hills the bald, ancient white head of Mount Adams. A week later, with talk of our departure we ride the River Highway again. Rumour’s she s left but there she is, treading the nest while a parent looks on from a higher branch, wise white head still. Suddenly her wings open and she leaps, leaving the nest, estuary wide wings flattening out. The parent looks on, unmoved, knowing the reward is the empty nest, chick growing distant. We are jealous and hesitant to leave, find our new tree. Published in Sheila-Na-Gig, September, 2018
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Poetry Biography:I have had over 70 poems published in the following worldwide magazines and literary journals: A Handful of Stones, Acta Victoriana (Canada), All the Sins (UK), The Amethyst Review (USA), Amsterdam Quarterly (NL) The Blue Nib (Ireland), Bolts of Silk, Borderless Journal, The Brasilia Review (Brazil), Bushfire Literature & Arts Review (US), Cadenza, Cake Magazine, Carillon, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal (Hong Kong), DASH (USA), Clackamas Literary Review (USA), Cooch Behar Anthology, Dawntreader, Dreamcatcher, The Dillydoun Review, Earth Love, The Ear (US), Eastlit (East Asia), Erbacce, Envoi, Finger Dance Festival, Ginosko, Gloom Cupboard, Hidden Channel, Inlandia Journal, IS&T (Ink, Sweat & Tears), Into the Void (Canada), The Journal, The Lakeview Journal (India), Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Lunch Ticket (USA) The New Writer, One Hand Clapping, Orbis, Oregon English Journal (USA), The Passage Between, Prole, Sentinel Literary Quarterly, Sonic Boom (India), Third Wednesday (USA), Of Nepalese Clay (Nepal), New Contrast (South Africa), One Hand Clapping, Opportunity Publishing, The Oregon English Journal (USA) Origami Poems Project (USA), The Paddock Review (USA), Panoplyzine (USA), Paper Swan Press, The Passage Between, The Peacock Journal (USA), Pens on Fire, Poetry Salzburg (Austria), Potomac Review, (USA) Prole, Pulsar Poetry, Rear View Poetry, Queen Mob's Teahouse, Qutub Minar Review (India), Red Ink, Shiela-Na-Gig (USA), South Bank Poetry Magazine, Stand, Waterford Teachers Centre, (Ireland) We Are a Website New Literary Journal (Singapore), Weber - The Contemporary West Review (USA), Windfall (USA), Writing Magazine, Words for the Wild and Verbal Art (India). Archives
March 2024
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