I’m thrilled to report that my two poems – “The Fog Lifts” and “Seagull” can now be read/viewed at Crowstep Journal Collection 2. My deep thanks to editors Sujatha Menon and John Herbert – such a beautifully crafted issue! Plus they have a Library section with links to authors’ books (like mine) and under Articles you can find a two-part Q & A that poet extraordinaire Robert Okaji did with me a few years ago!
I’m heading off on our boat again soon. Hope everyone is having a great summer!
Through the window, quiet rain.
Through the window, a woman’s
hands arced in morning prayer.
If not rain, I would be a Thumbelina
sliding into the silky bell-bottoms
of flowers. If not hands, I would be
the day cupped between,
still secret-sweet.
If a flower, I would proceed brazenly
blossom by ecstatic blossom
down the winding April streets.
If the day, I would warble amazed
through all my encounters.
And if from a dark cave of longing
came the strength to thrust aside logs
of bark mulch, I would say love
itself sprouted green and slender
in the sun-slanted garden.
From across the room, you come
toward me. What would it take
to meet the horizon most feared
and sails flapping, drop anchor
in the storied harbour of your arms?
Through the window, the steam of rain
falling now into light, the backyard
cedars leaning toward us, generous
limbs outstretched, as if to say—
all it takes is yes.
Another older poem, first published in North Shore Magazine in 2008.
Not able to sleep:
a pool party happening
across the ravine –
all the happy screaming
bubbly voices
rising, falling,
washing the tired
lines of the day
from my eyes.
Is there something to celebrate
on a dark night that
has lasted far too long?
I would give up all
remaining sleep to be giddy
with the adolescent fervor I hear
and to pass it to the wind
which can’t keep secrets
and make you listen too
as I am listening now
for an invitation
to join in,
to celebrate so many bodies
all plunging together
into vast new worlds
unafraid.
An older poem, first published in North Shore Magazine in 2007 (and written a decade earlier).
My poem PRAWNS is now live at Halfway Down The Stairs. What a gorgeous journal! Many thanks to editors Jeannie Roberts and Phillip Watts Brown for including this poem in their Open & Shut issue.
The spring issue of Soul-Lit is now live and I have two poems in it that can be read here.
I’ll note that “Morning Blessing” previously appeared in my chapbook “Irresistible” and “Kindness” in the anthology “Best of Kindness 2017” where it placed third. These notes were supposed to be included with their appearance here. Such a lovely journal! Do check out the rest of the issue.
This is just to say my entry into The UK Poetry Society’s National Poetry Competition 2021 bore some fruit after five years: I received a long and lovely email saying a poem of mine (which is not being named so it can be submitted elsewhere etc) made the longlist of 108 poems – out of 16,729! I had submitted two and it was of great interest to me to discover that the poem that went farthest wasn’t the lyrical, highly crafted one – but the more free-flowing, almost conversational more narrative one. So that’s something for me to think about, maybe compose more like that. Here’s a link to the results page, with the winning poems and the longlist from which they were chosen (listed alphabetically by each poet’s first name): https://poetrysociety.org.uk/competitions/national-poetry-competition/
I’ve been away in Mexico for a couple of months so haven’t posted much and also haven’t read much of others’ blogs. I have lots of catching up to do! Happy Spring to you all!
This is my second poem included in the anthology “Poets Speaking To Poets: Echoes and Tributes” – the brainchild of editors Robert Hamblin and Nicholas Fargnoli and is a tribute to poet Jane Kenyon. It first appeared in my chapbook “Irresistible”. Imagine my surprise to be handed a brochure about the artist Jane Kenyon during a walk one day! Referenced in the first stanza are various titles from her striking works and in the second are titles and lines from the poet – fun to do and which would be evident to any reader already familiar with the poet’s work; however I wanted to give equal footing to the lesser known artist, whose exhibition theme echoed so many of Jane Kenyon’s poems. The artist didn’t begin her career in visual art until 1993, two years before the poet died. Though the poet was born in 1947 and the artist in 1953, they probably didn’t know each other. You can find out more about the artist here
The book is a wonderful collection of poems that talk to each other through poets past and present. It’s available on Amazon here and also here.
This poem, which first appeared in my chapbook “Irresistible”, is the first of two selected for the anthology “Poets Speaking To Poets: Echoes and Tributes” – the brainchild of editors Robert Hamblin and Nicholas Fargnoli. My poem was written after Cecilia Woloch’s “Blazon”. I will post my tribute poem later. The book is a wonderful collection of poems that talk to each other through poets past and present. It’s available on Amazon here and also here.
The last of four poems included in the anthology “easing the edges: a collection of everyday miracles”. My thanks again to d. ellis phelps for publishing it! Available on Amazon US and Amazon Canada
Lynne Burnett 