My parents whisper a story
of a secretive wren in their back-garden that has built her ideal nest early and now awaits her mate. Every day she flutters up to the telephone wire and sings, trembling and loud: a sound from beyond her little brown body, reminding the world she was once queen riding on the back of an eagle. Now she sings for her king. A short distance – for eagles – to the common woods full of wrens, singing and feasting; hushed mating in the undergrowth. To my parent’s garden wren it is a flight beyond her stubby wings. So instead she sings alone on the wire; tweaks her crown and, at night, snuggles inside to dream of cheating eagles and laying eggs. Published in Sheila-Na-Gig, February, 2019
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Behind the apartment block,
an alleyway. We walked down after a coffee with cute foam in a café with English Tea Shop tables. We stop by an outhouse with a side room no bigger than a shed. Occupied by a family with three children. Youngest crying. Tiny secret slum. Didn’t believe it until I saw the one bed, kitchen stove, toilet bucket; coffin-living. Three steps later a road, traffic, shops and the rest of Guangzhou, China, world unaware. Published February 2019 in Stepaway Magazine. |
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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