Author Archives: Sarah

Newman at Edgbaston The rays descending into A high ceiling room Revealed the motes rising And heavy clopping must Have made itself heard A thoroughfare right outside The new oratory house Romanly dominating Athwart the town-bound traffic Collegiate calm fostered On manufacture’s fringes And tall windows commune The two as John Henry Sits at letter-writingContinue reading “Newman at Edgbaston – a poem by Martin Potter”

A widely published poet, Julie Sampson edited Lady Mary Chudleigh’s Selected Poems, 2009 (Shearsman). Her two poetry collections are Tessitura (Shearsman, 2014) and It Was When It Was When It Was (Dempsey and Windle), 2018. She was highly commended in the Geoff Stevens Memorial Poetry Prize, 2019.

The Discipleship of Trees They are God’s most faithful disciples, their rings symbolizing vows of stability like monks pledging forever to the earth’s monastery. They stand firm in their sturdy wooden sandals and habits of glossy green announce they belong to the confraternity of hope. They provide cathedrals: choir lofts for brown thrashers and redwings,Continue reading “The Discipleship of Trees – a poem by Philip C. Kolin”

A widely published poet, Julie Sampson edited Lady Mary Chudleigh’s Selected Poems, 2009 (Shearsman). Her two poetry collections are Tessitura (Shearsman, 2014) and It Was When It Was When It Was (Dempsey and Windle), 2018. She was highly commended in the Geoff Stevens Memorial Poetry Prize, 2019.

Communing with the Owl, May, 2020 Perhaps the owl who lives in Brues woods is my spirit animal, as Janet says. I know she’s teasing but I take it as a compliment: to have a spiritual connection means I’m sensitive. From home, I walk to the trailhead, enter the woods, which feels full of ghosts––Continue reading “Communing with the Owl – a poem by Joel Moskowitz”

Shift Told Jesus walked through Easter doors, a lockdown sham of much report and Thomas offered digit wounds whether he poked, though doubtless stared. It’s more than magic show with bones, an urban myth, dispensing shift; is poetry or prose employed to grasp what cannot be described? Some try to cling old paradigm amongst theContinue reading “Shift – a poem by Stephen Kingsnorth”

The Lifespan of a Cricket It’s three a.m. The cricket has been quiet for a while but I still can’t sleep. I want to go outside and stare at the moon and the stars. Of course, I won’t. The neighbors might think me a burglar and yard dogs would bark. Calling for a mate, theContinue reading “The Lifespan of a Cricket – a personal essay by Barbara Alfaro”

An Angel Swims Her body of air knows its way as she swims in the water, feels the hush of the ocean’s touch. She sees the sun’s light keeping pace by her side, hears the slow sound of rush her rhythm creates, tastes the salt that brims her lips, smells the seaweed that trims theContinue reading “An Angel Swims – a poem by Janet Krauss”

The Shoal Lilies It’s not what you were expecting as you kayaked around the bend, it’s what you received: throngs of tall white lilies— rare six-pointed stars— thriving on the shoals. Blooming islands rooted in the crevices between the river rocks, scenting the air. You found a watery path through a stand of them, liftedContinue reading “The Shoal Lilies – a poem by Kathleen Brewin Lewis”

Sacrament of Girl childhood is clean cotton sheets, a girl in one piece lying underneath, wind breathes and sheets roam, but girl stays, keeps herself inside herself, her mother’s redemption, all the mothers’ unyielding relief there will be no heart strings left on a man’s starched sleeve, not this time, not yet, such careful strategies,Continue reading “Sacrament of Girl – a poem by Angelica Whitehorne”