News, Poem and Story

Two pieces of good news today.

Firstly, I’m thrilled to announce that Maytree Press will be publishing my second poetry collection, provisionally entitled LifeTimes, in 2022 (having published my first, Sea Without a Shore in 2019). I don’t know exactly when yet – it may be in the latter part of the year. But nevertheless, I should give you a taster, shouldn’t I? This one seems appropriate for the time of year:

Christmas Card Friends

Do my words hang in corners
by snow-covered trees 
and the unremarked faces of angels?
Do you look for my messages,
old secrets gift-wrapped in rhyme?

I choose pictures with meanings
and couplets that recast the spell.
I send you magic:
you send me ‘Joyeux Noel’.

I share the same greeting 
with old friends from school
whom you pass in the street without knowing
yet my lips touch the rubber-stamped 
crosses that never touched yours.

Long ago, we were lovers;
for me, even old love transcends
the dead sheets of paper
that pass between Christmas card friends.

Secondly I'm also delighted to have a story (also with a festive theme) on the Fairlight Books website.   https://www.fairlightbooks.co.uk/short_stories/the-night-before-christmas/

pic: James Petts. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0