Dear Readers,

As I pick up the reins as this month’s showcase editor, I hope I can follow in Dan, Holly & Eithne’s fabulous footsteps! I’m not a writer in my day job, but I’m a writer in my heart and write poetry, fiction and articles for online and offline media.

April is National Poetry Month, so it’s only fitting I start off my month with that medium. My love affair with poetry really started in school; I was fascinated by the depth of emotion a poem can express in only a few words, as opposed to much longer pieces of prose.

The theme for Write On! Issue 8 is ‘Growth’ and how we navigate this season of change, so I have chosen poetry based around these ideas.

To introduce myself properly, the first poem I’m presenting is one of mine: Acceptance. I believe before any growth or change can take place, it’s vital we accept things as they are, including ourselves, warts and all.

Keep expressing!

Palak.

Connect with me on:  palaktewary.com or through Twitter/Instagram: @palaktewary

Acceptance

Cuddled up on the window seat,
one lazy sunny beautiful afternoon,
with me, I am determined to meet.

The pale sunray falls into the saloon,
and lights up the shadowed places,
and fills it with a delightful sweet tune.

The wind caresses the lost spaces,
letting the air breathe and hum with
songs of forgotten stories and faces.

I decode my own magic and myth,
revisiting the pathways that I chose,
unlocking doors without the locksmith.

Absolving myself, many a chapters I close,
albeit with thorns I may be, but I am a rose.

© Palak Tewary, 2001

(You can watch a reading of this poem here: https://youtu.be/IFNXUK3nnrM)

*****

Have you ever noticed the little miracles that take place around us? Elizabeth Freeman depicts a beautiful moment from her garden. It reminds me of how important it is to be at one with nature.

Spring Song

I watched you in my garden
Singing heartily. You held your
Little head up and sang most beautifully.
Alone, upon the top branch. Your face
Towards the sky. Your yellow back
And red crest head. Your tune so
Sweet and high.
Alone, you sang. The air was still.
You looked this way and that.
When suddenly she came to you,
Swooped down to kiss your head. Then you
took off. Together now
You flew across the sky.

© Elizabeth Freeman, 2001

*****

Growth comes from a place of peace. Patsy Middleton’s poem is a strong reminder of how powerful a little moment of peace can be.

Silence In A Hot Garden

The sun sears my parched lawn. No breeze rustles leaves. I sit filling little bags with lavender.
Aware of a difference, I pause.
Stillness spreads a cloth of peace. Profound silence engulfs me
I close my eyes and dare not breath, fearful of breaking the miracle.
The brief endless moment passes.
Bees buzz in the lavender bush. Birds sing. A light breeze sets leaves sighing.
An aeroplane drones in the cloudless sky. Children chatter in a neighbour’s garden.
Dogs bark in the distance. A pigeon coos.
As normal noises sound again still the silence lingers in me. Stored in my memory

© Patsy Middleton, 2021

Connect with Patsy on Twitter:  @MP_Middleton5

*****

Eithne Cullen’s poem tells us how change is not the end of the old but the birth of something new and hopeful.

Like Angel Wings

The serpent slithers back to Hell.
Eve cast out expelled, distraught,
sobbing, cold, unclothed,
feet cut by ice and stones.
No more green leaves, soft earth,
the earth is barren –
dull grey frost and stony ground,
no food or shelter to be found.
A non stop flow of snow falls down.
Adam nurses his rage in angry silence
…and she sits weeping.

Tall figure looms, shadows by her feet,
an angel who has been sent to comfort her
places his warm hand on her freezing face.
Snow falls round his golden head,
he holds a snow flake for a second
and his angelic breath causes it to glow.
And where it falls the earth grows warm,
rich brown soil shines through the frost,
a green shoot works through the icy crust
and a white flower like angel wings appears-
symbol of hope and rebirth.

© Eithne Cullen, 2001.

Connect with Eithne on Twitter: @eithne_cullen

*****

Don’t forget, Issue 7 of Write On! magazine is out now. Read it online here.

If you’d like to see your writing appear in the Write On! ‘Showcase’, please send your short stories, poetry or novel extracts to: pentoprint@lbbd.gov.uk.