Earlier this month, we gathered together on Zoom with our friends at Dark Angels for an evening of poetry, inspiration and community.
It was wonderful to see familiar and new faces popping up on Zoom from living rooms and studies across the UK and beyond (even New Zealand). Why? To celebrate the publication of Dark Angels: Three Contemporary Poets by Paekakariki Press.
The three poets in question? Thérèse Kieran, Tim Rich and John Simmons. Each (beautifully) read two of their poems from the collection, and what a collection it is.
If you missed it and haven’t got a copy of the book yet, here’s a taster – one of the poems written and read by Thérèse Kieran…
Life Lines
It was 1993.
San Francisco in the spring and the sun
freckled my Irish skin. Its shine was mine and
life was wave upon wave going west. I took a bus
across the Golden Gate to an artists’ commune
near the woods. Forest bathed under towering giants;
leaf canopies of shade but excitement coursed my veins.
So later, in the line, I offered up my palm
to one who told me she could see. There, she said,
right there, your life line changed
and nothing will be the same.
I shrugged it off and hugged the trees, made daisy chains
and strung them through my hair. Hatched plans and
plotted, screamed who I would be. The scene was set,
I’d made my move. Then one week later, two lines of blue
confirmed what she already knew.
His life in my hands.
Thank you to everyone who joined and to our hosts Neil Baker and Martin Clarkson. While there’s been a welcome return to in-person gatherings, this was a reminder of the sense of connection and community we can also create remotely – reaching many more 26 members, wherever we are. So we hope to see lots of you on another Zoom soon!
You can order your own copy of the book here.