One a Day / 04.09.26

Forest Management S. Reeson - presale, signed

‘A fascinating pamphlet’ - Wendy Pratt; ‘unflinching, inventive poems of discovery, trauma and healing’ - Jen Feroze; ‘...candid, skilful and often unsettling poems; a forest trail that leads us through fear and reflection to a place of revelation.’ - Nina Parmenter

The Flight of the Dragonfly Bookshop

It's time to change the direction of this space for a while, starting with a daily poem. The warmup has served me well over the last few years, and with some major changes on the way here in October, it is time to practice what I keep preaching. This gives space for new ideas to flourish and old wood to be quietly cut away. We'll be doing this therefore until the 30th, by which time everything happening in the background will be ready for you. Thanks for reading.

Make it Worse

For a while they helped and then
the silence became deafening
a voice that helped me / calm
and often / more objective
that a world that told me
this way I'd be well.

For there was a time when
they made me want to end it all
a constant awful / weight of guilt
and in A&E / asking was easier
that being told might not work
this could be a way forward.

For not everyone is built the same
they and him and her are slivers
a fraction of that / glorious whole
and it is / a reminder I am
that which must be nurtured
this which must be kept alive.

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