Welcome back to SHINE, and thanks for stopping by! You'll be glad you did, as this month's featured poet is the lovely Sarah Connor, whose evocative poetry is sure to resonate. Sarah extends her gratitude to Annick Meyer of Sidhe Press who put together her recent book, Always Fire. All proceeds for the book are going to North Devon Hospice. You can learn more in Sarah's bio (below). Please enjoy two poems from the collection: "I Went to the Sea" and "This Doesn't Feel Like Home Yet." Thank you, Sarah, for sharing your words! I Went to the Sea I took it all with me the grief and the anger and the fear and she took it like she takes all our shit and she smoothed it the way she might smooth a stone or a piece of glass and she cradled me the way a mother might cradle a frightened child and her pulse was my pulse and I left with it all the grief and the anger and the fear a little smoother now a little easier to carry This Doesn't Feel Like Home Yet This Doesn't feel like home yet, but it could. You know, a bed is a bed, a bowl is a bowl. Your daughter's hungry but you cannot feed her -- your son is crying and you cannot comfort him. A bird sings, but you don't know the notes, this window opens onto streets you cannot name and words you can't decipher. And home is a key on a string against your skin. ![]() Sarah Connor was brought up in South Yorkshire and now lives in North Devon. She has been published in numerous publications including Spelt magazine, The Storms, and anthologies from Black Bough Poetry, Experiments in Literature, and Sidhe Press. Her books are: Always Fire, The Crow Gods, and The Poet Spells Her Name. You can follow her on Twitter: @sacosw. Sarah has been living with breast cancer for the last 16 years, and is donating all proceeds from her book Always Fire (Sidhe Press, 2024) to her local hospice. To purchase a copy of Always Fire, please click here. Poetry fans, Welcome to the June edition of SHINE! Allow me to introduce Scott Thomas Outlar, a long-time writing community acquaintance. I'm thrilled to share his two poems, "A Lot of Good, Our Thumbs" (first published by Borderless Journal), and "A Patient Path By Subtle Degree" (first published by Dissident Voice), which blesses us with such lines as, "...if chaos remains|your favorite tonic|then carry your piece to the stars|and howl by night in lamentation." Enjoy! A Lot of Good, Our Thumbs The fog of war has never been thicker and every angle of attack casts its own shadow of propaganda upon the scene but I give a wide berth to all they’re selling – be it bombs, sanctions, or nuclear annihilation I found a forecast in the woods about the end of days where seven squirrels told me why they buried all their nuts just for this age and the sparrow sang a song that hurt my heart and the patient worms were licking their chops but I stared straight toward the sun praying for violet promised my palms and the flesh thereof because God only knows how we’ll build this bridge anew A Patient Path By Subtle Degree Four white swans melancholic in the shallows little unicorn souls neon snowflake tincture for the sum of five lost ages in the sun six spent sirens and seven spirals careening empty The assimilation of life’s seemingly discordant aspects into a cohesive whole is like unto brewing a medicinal spell to release on the new moon and when the cards are turned to reveal a peaceful moment hark! spark your spirit to the rhythm of an orderly vibration humming electric from magnetic spheres dancing geometric patterns swirling in shapes, manifesting form All the mushrooms and flowers and herbs and trees that I have no names for hold my imagination in the life grip of hope but if chaos remains your favorite tonic then carry your piece to the stars and howl by night in lamentation I listen instead to the song of the whales ringing sacred at the yawning abyss music’s inside aquatic source mouth stuffed with salted pearls pink fish and red eyes Wim Hof secures deep breaths in place my silver thread untethered lucid along the path of turtles ![]() Scott Thomas Outlar originally hails from Atlanta, Georgia. He now resides and writes in Frederick, Maryland. His work has been nominated multiple times for both the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. He guest-edited the Hope Anthology of Poetry from CultureCult Press as well as the 2019-2023 Western Voices editions of Setu Mag. Selections of his poetry have been translated and published in 15 languages. He has been a weekly contributor at Dissident Voice for the past ten years. More about Outlar's work can be found at 17Numa.com. Poetry Fans, What a pleasure to shine the spotlight on a local poet who I have recently become acquainted with...Joanne Corey! I hope you'll enjoy her touching poems, "Over Eighty Years," first published in the Spring 2021 anthology of the Binghamton Poetry Project and later in Hearts (Kelsay Books, 2023), as well as "The Bridge," first published in POETiCA REViEW 20th Anniversary Edition. Thank you, Joanne, for sharing your words with SHINE! Over Eighty Years |
Shining a spotlight on poets around the globe
Interested in a Feature? Send queries to poetrybysamantha[at] protonmail[dot]com Stars Over the Dordogne
|