Hello, readers! Welcome to the final Showcase of February. I’ll be celebrating Mahashivratri here this week and observing a fast. I’ll also be reflecting on my journey so far and offer prayers to Lord Shiva. He is the destroyer of evil and the embodiment of transformation and I feel in my core that the energy of today’s Showcase aligns so well with the festivities.

I often lose sight of who I once was and the talents that shaped my journey. Every step, no matter how small or misunderstood at the time, has contributed to the unfolding of it all. Being present while savouring the now builds a great future!

Who we have been anchors who we are now and, from that grounding, our path to becoming ‘something more’ continues.

This year, I’m promising myself to not hold back from reaching new heights. But hey! It’s still only February, giving us all plenty of time  to re-route our energies.

My submissions today play with a similar theme: evolving over time under pressure and facing the inevitable shifts in life, embracing the nostalgia that comes with it and finding joy in simple pleasures to live a better life.

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I often find myself feeling fenced in by the societal templates that once dictated how women should behave, dress and exist. Yet, just as women strive to break free from these expectations, men, too, long to cut the cord of societal pressures. This piece of prose-poetry by Tania Winther beautifully captures the journey of ‘becoming:’ through the decades, through history and through the weight carried in our DNA. We evolve with every breath and there’s so much to love about every part of that transformation.

Of Time and Becoming

We were once wild shadows, Running with the wolves beneath skies, Our hands calloused from the hunt, Eyes sharp like flint, hearts pounding to the pulse of the earth. The night was our cradle, The stars whispered stories we could only dream to decode. We were the first steps, the first fire, A flicker in the grand evolution.

Through millennia, we became the land’s children, Planting roots where rivers kissed the soil, Settlers building from rock and bone, The earth no longer a vast stage for wandering, But a home. A hearth. Our hands turned soft, our eyes distant, Still sharp, yet searching for something more than survival.

Perhaps for meaning.

The dawn of new days broke in blood and revolution, The world a cauldron of rising voices: Women stood, breaking chains forged in silence, Their bodies once bound to hearth and womb. Now demanded space, Demanded voice. Their liberation was an echo, Reverberating through the halls of history, Shattering the glass ceiling beneath which They had toiled for too long.

Men, too, found themselves in the mirror’s gaze, Trying to untangle the chains of strength and vulnerability. The world told them to be stone, Yet stones erode under the weight of expectations. They, too, sought to break free, To redefine what it means to be, To be human, to be free.

And then came the screens, the digital dream. We now carry the universe in our pockets, The entire span of human thought Compressed into pixels, Flashing, streaming, screaming.

We scroll endlessly, Anxious to belong, desperate to be seen. We are hunters again, But now we hunt for likes, For hearts, for validation in a world Where the face in the mirror feels pixelated, Fragmented by filters and stories told in fragments.

Our ancestors wore pelts and mud, We wear hashtags and profiles, Their tribes were bound by blood, Ours by Wi-Fi and the illusion of connection. And yet, we are still here, Still becoming, still evolving. Still seeking, still questioning, Still wondering what it means To be more than flesh and bone, More than data streams, More than history’s echo.

We are the sum of every decade, Every march, every revolution. From caves to cities, from silence to speech, From shackles to liberation. We wear the scars of every battle Fought for freedom, for truth, For the right to define ourselves In a world that constantly shifts Like sand underfoot.

We are many things at once,

Hunters, settlers, pioneers, revolutionaries. We are the voices of ancestors

And the dreams of tomorrow. We are the silent scream of the oppressed, The roar of the liberated. We are time, we are space, We are the evolution of becoming.

And still,
We ask the eternal question:
Who are we?
And the answer, forever, is in the becoming.

© Tania Winther, 2025

Connect with Tania on Instagram: @atelierwinther

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This poem by Andrew Shillam reminded me of how life evolves as we grow and how much truly changes over time. It’s why we often look back on our lives with a sense of nostalgia; love, even. In an instant, we lose touch with so many people, both offline and online. Yet, the show must go on. The narrator seems caught between the allure of the natural world and the inevitability of life’s shifts, marked by loss, ageing, and the relentless passage of time.

Still In The Forest

In and out of sleep, driven towards dawn, the dark night wove me. It’s hot and humid now, outside rain, cold and falling slowly. I’m going somewhere, moving further in, this body you see, far beneath the skin, all through the valley the wind howling thin.

All my life in the forest only now trying to get back, banana leaves scrape the windows and the world is out of whack. People are dying, I don’t want to go, the older I get more people I know, all through the valley the cold rains blow.

The rain falls, day ends, pass through the night, wake and wade through your dreams. Cicadas and frogs loud in the downpipes, nothing quite as it seems. Still in the forest, trying to get back, the weeds choke the locks and trees cross the track, all through the valley the sky turning black.

All morning showers, writing in bed and forgetting to eat, dry oats and yoghurt, grey shadows, the hiss of cars in the street. There’s rain in my dreams where the first creek bends, a tangle of trees and my childhood ends, down through the valley the dirt road descends.

© Andrew Shillam, 2025

Connect with Andrew on Instagram: @andrewshillam

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This beautiful prose poem by Joe takes me back to the simple joys of life: ice creams, summer days and carefree memories. It’s a gentle reminder to cherish life’s little pleasures. Flirt a bit, live a bit!

Nostalgia

Oh Nostalgia

I miss those halcyon days when everything used to be but no longer is, deeply buried in the mists of time.

When Mars bars were 8 old pence and Milky Way was 6 old pence and milk was a curdled parody of its former self and children would gather for their mid morning drink with slender straws of pink and blue.

I miss the electricity, the buzz, the theatrical vibe, the vibrancy of it all.

The Talk of the Town, Lyons Corner House, the culinary nectar of rum baba and cinnamon scented memories of apple pie and ice cream, the Golden Egg too.

I miss those days when a tanner was truly worth its weight in gold and a shilling for tea was never remotely cold.

I miss those vinyl records when 33 and 45 were our postcode numbers for musical heaven

That instantly recognisable crackle, when dancing around the dining room around handbags while boy met girl

And boys smeared fragrant gel and girls wore beehives the size of our hearts and minds. For a while we rejoiced in the way we’d always knew we would, irrepressible laughter for as long as we could.

I miss the days when long and bright summer days dappled and flirted and teased with our senses.

For day upon day the hawthorn and rose swayed and shimmied with seductive ease, Upon the fleetingly gentle breeze when nothing seemed to matter and only the dustman sneezed.

When those long- haired students and hippies from the Bob Dylan society knew how profound everything seemed to be. While University Challenge with Bamber Gascoigne seemed so wise and clever, always questioning the status quo.

I miss that summer of 76 when youngsters revelled in endless heatwaves

When the life guards twiddled melodious whistles always took you back to the Last Night of the Proms. How patriotic, please again.

The sun shone faithfully, wistfully, nostalgically, over there and over here, beautifully uplifting days when none of us cared about the hour of the day. When washing lines flapped nonchalantly and ice cream vans were always there. For us.

© Joe Morris, 2025

Connect with Joe on Facebook: @JoeMorrisDavidMorris

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I love staring at the night sky and spotting constellations such as Orion and the different stars, finding it both the mystical and romantic. I enjoy way it calms me down and makes me think of those behind the veil. During the last Full Moon, I even spotted Jupiter and Mars alongside it. Niema shares her take on February’s Astronomical conditions and I’m here for it!

Astronomical February

February has been a real treat for those of us who enjoy stargazing and, as we head into the last week of the month, there’s still so much to see and enjoy.

A quarter moon illuminates the sky on February 20th, gradually transforming into a waning crescent over subsequent nights, and this will continuously shrink in size until the birth of a new moon on the 27th.

This year, the February new moon has a special significance to the over two billion Muslim people across the world, because it coincides with the commencement of the Holy month of Ramadan. However, for Ramadan to be officially announced, the new crescent moon must be sighted with the naked eye. This means an official confirmation is expected either on the evening of February 28th or March 1st, once the crescent becomes visible.

Meanwhile, the elusive planet Mercury will be visible just above the horizon for about 40 minutes after sunset, appearing as a shimmering ‘star’ with a yellowish tint. Due to its proximity to the Sun, Mercury is notoriously difficult to spot, but the last week of February and the first half of March offer an excellent opportunity to see it.

On the 25th, Mercury was in conjunction with Saturn, meaning that both planets were very close to each other in the evening sky. If you had a telescope to hand, you may also have seen the magnificent rings of Saturn – by far one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen!

Also gracing the western sky after sunset is the planet Venus, shining brilliantly as the ‘Evening Star.’ As one of the first objects to emerge after sunset, it’s very easy to spot. Fiery Mars is quite easy to see due to its bright reddish colour and can be seen high in the eastern sky each evening. It’s the last planet to set in the west and this happens in  the early hours of the morning. Mars was in retrograde motion up until February 24th (meaning that its motion appears to be going backwards from our vantage point on earth).

To the right of Mars and in an overhead position, the planet Jupiter shines brightly, resembling a brilliant star. Through a telescope, two additional planets, Uranus and Neptune, can also be seen this month. Planetary motion can be fascinating to observe over several weeks and months, giving an excellent insight into why ancient astronomers referred to these planets as the ‘wandering stars.’

With so much on display, February has offered a wonderful opportunity to explore the night sky. If you do venture out to observe, remember to dress warmly, especially if you’re in the UK or a colder climate. A cup of hot chocolate in hand makes for the perfect companion to this celestial spectacle. Happy stargazing!

© Niema Bohrayba, 2025

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I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s Showcase and the last for February 2025. It’s been an honour to curate and share them with you all. I’d also like to thank you, dear reader, for your amazing submissions!

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If you’d like to see your writing appear in the Write On! Showcase, please submit your short stories, poetry or novel extracts to: pentoprint.org/get-involved/submit-to-write-on/

Hear extracts from Showcase in our podcast. Write On! Audio. Find us on all major podcast platforms, including Apple and Google Podcasts and Spotify. Type Pen to Print into your browser and look for our logo or find us on Spotify for Pocasters.

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