Thoughts of a Soo

For me, writing good poetry is like riding a ghost train: You start in the dark and have to wait for your eyes to begin to become accustomed to it. The track isn't always straight and sudden turns spin your stomach. There are things that make you shut your eyes and things only glimpsed that dare you to focus in. You need to be ready to hit things hard and go right through.

In 2021 I began to pay attention to the names given to each full moon throughout the year.  In 2022 I decided I would learn them and also write a poem on each full moon... wolf... snow... worm... pink... flower... strawberry... buck... sturgeon... harvest...hunter's...beaver...cold Photo credit: Lisa Hughes, Harvest Moon, September 2022. Below you can read the first full moon poem of 2022 for January's Wolf Moon. The full set of these poems appears in 'Vortex Over Wave' which was published in December 2023. The book combines the moon poems with a selection of my #ElasticBandPhotos. I AM HOWLING TO JANUARY'S WOLF MOON   by this I mean I have no words by this I mean I am too tired to speak by this I mean I think if I started, I wouldn’t stop by this I mean there is too much I am holding in by this I mean I am struggling by this I mean I need to ask for help by this I mean I need you to help me by this I mean ple...

I had a brief experiment with the morning tweet before March 2020 Lockdown. Doing this definitely helped me to have a focus in the Autumn that followed... Monday 14th  December 2020: The sky winks a star, says there were meteors last night. Thursday 10th December 2020: I let the sky orange its purple blanket without really noticing. Wednesday 9th December 2020: Winter bleached air, curved moon in a blue sky surrounded by stars that I swear are singing. Tuesday 8th December 2020: A sideways glance from a Santa in an upstairs window as the moon looks on through thin puffed cloud. Gentle rattled greetings from the magpie nest. Monday 7th December 2020: The orange light of street lamps shows the fog as cloud. Brake lights pierce it. Then half a moon behind a skim of cloud as magpies chatter. Friday 4th December 2020: The day feels freshly washed and the moon says waxing follows waning and the sky shows its blue. Thursday 3rd December 2020: Just rain from an inked black sky that slowly,...