Tag: reflection

STARTLED AWAKE 

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Are you ever startled by beauty, catching sight of something unexpected in nature? It might be the smallest of things (Forget-Me-Nots), or the biggest (this morning’s sunrise), but it can feel like being nudged awake – jolted even – out of the brain benumbing inertia of screen addiction.

A cardinal beetle once did something like that for me, and in thanks, I wrote the following:

ODE TO AN INSECT

such sophistication of red
encasing wings of silk 
symmetry of black
antenna curve of antler
jet ivory of elk 

drinking in the sight of you

full-bodied delicacy
tracing your lines 

of majesty 

love calls to love
& echoes through
our atoms

From poetry collection ‘Dear Planet’, published by Fidessa Literary, July 2025.

PIGLET DOESN’T ALWAYS HAVE TO BE A COWARD

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“So deeply admire anyone involved in conflict resolution, especially as I can be hugely conflict avoidant. Poetry has been my compassionate therapist, my Pooh Bear, coaxing me into an understanding of how I got here: why my instincts are to hide at the faintest whiff of conflict. And the truth sets us free. Piglet doesn’t always have to be a coward.”

The above paragraph was my response to a prompt question, “How can you think about conflict in your life through the lens of poetry?” Each Sunday Pádraig Ó Tuama posts a deeply reflective piece on his wonderful Poetry Unbound Substack (poetryunbound.substack.com), always including a thought-provoking question, which is inevitably hard to resist. 

Writing the poem below has been part of my process – recognising where certain fears came from (and why standing at the sink, washing the dishes is a favourite place). 

Sometimes it’s only once we understand where we actually are, that we can truly start to move on…

AFTER DINNER MINTS


Sky rent in two 

falling between 

soles finding ground 

I take my stand in silence.

She hurt beyond betrayal 

he haunted and subdued 

chasms ripple them apart 

pernicious waves of white noise.

History layering upon

itself, unpeeling one from 

another, an After Eights messy matter. 

No wonder I seek sanctuary 

in soap suds and greasy dishes 

while fault lines re-form 

I mask my aftershocks 

my crumbling.

From poetry collection ‘Dear Planet’, published by Fidessa Literary, July 2025.

poem: Morning Chorus

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Dear calico she does her daily mee-yowll,

a post-breakfast roaring lioness, beagle 

grunts & groans in doggy joy of back roll 

& squirm, sparrows & roosters, doves & 

orioles enchant this first coffee with chirps 

& crows, coos & cries, while I, tapping out 

these words on my phone, vowels rolling over 

tongue, all such music not only for ourselves,

for the ecstasy of stretch, but also some sacred 

task, heralding one to another: We Are Here!

First published in Honeyguide Literary Magazine, October 2023: https://www.honeyguidemag.com/morning-chorus-ann-van-wijgerden?fbclid=IwAR3sfU3C9_kp-u6YEbcy3y2wiSodu_PlfEdrHydbb5MosCFsCVl2oW2VVLE