Blog Archives

July 2~ LAURIE DONALDSON

7/2/2025

Poetry lovers and friends, thanks for stopping by SHINE, where today we welcome Scottish poet Laurie Donaldson with three phenomenal poems: "Torchsong," "The Man I Could Have Been," and "Some Day." Enjoy! And thank you, Laurie, for sharing your words with SHINE international poetry community.

Torchsong
(for Rosebud)

Fleeting bright through dark I want
to follow that glow to see you again,
even half-seen on the edge of awareness.

You show at disconcerting times
my will o’ the wisp
across the rain-thronged moor

of old heartbreak. Traipsing,
I feel led by that magic now, know its pull,
my gone child I sensed I’d meet once more,

to eventually clasp in ethereal embrace.
She calls me with fairy fire
from those endless might have beens

where imagination becomes penance,
taught sorrow in that ancient way.
Despite empires rising, falling into ruin,

new atrocities unfurling towards the light,
this kernel of pain, my sprite,
holds sway deep within, and she beckons

me to finally follow, to lure me
to accept her ghostly radiance,
not at the end of a tunnel

but across a wide welcoming upland
of vivid clouds, spectrum of patchwork
mosses and lichens that absorb

my energy as I pass from one form to another,
slowly delighted to become such brief flare
– not quite there, rarely seen but once known.

The Man I Could Have Been
(with apologies to Roddy Lumsden)

The man I could have been understands the difference between art and artifice,
can assuage doubt with the sweep of a pen,
ink drying on pages of easy dreams,
adds verbs destructively like a spoilt magus.

The man I could have been has not savoured measly death,
but has drawn a line in clear water, a paddle
quietly moving him to windward,
assuming a position of casual delinquency.

The man I could have been eats placebos with little relish,
holds comfort quietly as a stranger needs a map to their life,
pushes disdain from his mind, but slowly,
until stained clouds are beaten away by the sun.

The man I could have been does not slice up eyeballs,
knows those he can trust are not those he must like,
affects preposterous opinions for the sake of controversy,
while secretly feeling their worth, just a man trying not to give it all away.

The man I could have been has seen that, done that,
is full of brio, in tune with the bloated times of easy ego,
can hinge on a kitten heel in a new direction,
one that has the flavour of sorghum and papaya.

The man I could have been has cut out the middleman,
spread a range of reveries out on a mat for display,
clasps momentary whims like a cheap necklace
and finds suitable transport for each passing thought.

The man I could have been finds anxiety a natural ally,
discovers a lodestone of purpose designed for anything new,
throws shrapnel at chance and shrugs at spoon theory,
piles worn experience in a heap and then sets fire to the world.

Some Day

I planted a tree to say a few words to the sky
watched it grow into the bright air
to speak for itself, and me,
our message to the rain
thickets of small birds
a wind that displaced quiet
a flichter of snow as the seasons talked back
owned us both.

Laurie Donaldson is a Scottish poet and artist who has been published in numerous journals, magazines, anthologies and zines. He also runs creative writing workshops, and recently helped launch and co-hosts a monthly creative open mic, and is part of a collective starting a new local magazine for the arts.

July 1~ NEIL COLEMAN

7/1/2025

Today SHINE welcomes Chicago-based poet, Neil Coleman. Neil brings us two poems: "For Ever and More" and "Yourself, No Longer." Thank you, Neil, for sharing your gift of words with SHINE international poetry series!

For Ever and More

A shiver.
Then another.
I'm taken. Awakened.
And it ends.
the lively banter, the easy laughter of dream
now a misty memory of a moment never there

"Are you awake? Oh, good.
I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. Don’t worry.
I will never leave you.
For Ever and More.
Now, go back to sleep.”

Almost pitch.
Midnight sky.
A sliver of moon. The stars illume
And transcend
I’m thrilled, ecstatic in my insignificance.
As I grasp to behold, a shiver takes hold

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?
Beyond wonderment's clench.
A hunger unsated, a thirst never quenched.

Cavemen and apes stared with open-mouthed gape
No painter, no piper, no ploughman escaped
The peril, the promise
This scintillant sight

Every poet and priest and prophet rattled,
Each tortured soul and soldier embattled.
I am the breath-hold of your fright
I am the fear in the night.

For I was right there with them as I am here with you.
You need not fear.
For I’m already here and I will never leave you.
For Ever and More.
Now, go back to sleep.”

“ ‘Lord, deliver me’, you cry.
And you shall be delivered. But not yet.

Now, go back to sleep.”

Yourself, No Longer

A path.
Any path.
Any cock-eyed slip of the slope.
Rocky and thatched and webbed with enstrangling vinery.
That elusive journey taken toward

a moment.
Any moment.
Any fleeting tick of the tock.
Blinding and shrill and creaking with soul-crushing constriction.
That fugitive time spent moving forward.

When you reach the vanish of that path
and stand at the bell-toll of that moment,
unblinking, unbending, unwavering,
on the threshold at the gatehouse of purpose

to travel onward, to look inward, to seek deeper,
is paradise found,
showering upon you the boundless courage
to be a stranger to yourself no longer.

Neil Coleman is a Chicago area poet and writer. He doesn't sleep well because he worries about most everything, from the future of the human experience to the starting pitching of the Chicago White Sox. UGH! Drawing inspiration from everything and anything, Neil crafts poems and stories that explore a wide range of themes, from love and loss to fear and faith.

July 2~ LAURIE DONALDSON

Torchsong
(for Rosebud)

The Man I Could Have Been
(with apologies to Roddy Lumsden)

Some Day

July 1~ NEIL COLEMAN

For Ever and More

Yourself, No Longer

SHINE - International Poetry Series

Previous Features

July 2~ LAURIE DONALDSON

Torchsong(for Rosebud)

The Man I Could Have Been (with apologies to Roddy Lumsden)

Some Day

July 1~ NEIL COLEMAN

For Ever and More

Yourself, No Longer

SHINE - International Poetry Series

Previous Features

Torchsong
(for Rosebud)

The Man I Could Have Been
(with apologies to Roddy Lumsden)