A Memory Shows Itself
it was a saturday & I was home alone
I blared Michael Jackson from the expensive stereo
system I wasn’t supposed to touch
I dusted & vacuumed clad only in white underpants
I danced like no one was watching except someone was
a stranger walking by in the alley – stopped to stare
through the framed by sliding doors of glass
at a 12-year-old girl startled & scared
a botched Botticelli with hair not long enough to
cover her budding breasts I crumbled
crawled into the kitchen & hid behind the rounded counter
the tall heel of white formica cold against my naked spine
BIG NEWS! ‘Thimbles’ has arrived from the printers! Tomorrow I’ll get to open the box and hold a hard copy for the first time! Yahoo! Don’t worry…I’ll make a video and share the joy!
#NPM – THE RIVER ANSWERS by Jude Neale
Jude Neale’s latest collection of poetry draws its beauty from the vulnerable centre of pandemic life – missing each other, our physical connections, nature and her gifts to us if we open our hearts to receive them…Neale’s poetry kind and accessible but not without a ferocity that calls us into the action of deep-diving into spaces that make us uncomfortable or give us pain. “How do you move from death to death and not sag from sorrow?” she asks…”For the witness and the afflicted carry the same story of this dreadful finality.” (From ‘It All Came To Pass, pg. 40, The River Answers, Ekstasis Editions, 2021
You can purchase a copy of Jude’s new book HERE.
READ THIS TOO.
The Pull of Stars by Emma Donahue. Canadian writer Emma Donoghue makes magic with the stars in this incredible story about a nurse making miracles during the influenza outbreak in Ireland in 1918. A uncanny telling that holds up mirrors to today’s pandemic experience.
AND ALSO, READ THIS.
Jillian Boehme’s latest fantasy YA is an adventure in love, self-empowerment, magic and healing. May there always be a bit of Maralyth Graylaern in each of us! A strong, vulnerable, honest and empowered heroine, it was a joy joining Maralyth on her journey. A fierce telling of an engaging story that felt like a contemporary fairytale.
What poetry did you read yesterday? I hope it lifted your soul!
VANESSA SHIELDS, writer 