Category Poems

Nature is always speaking

A reflection based on the episode with Faumuina Felolini Maria Tafunai about Pacific Ocean Voyaging for Episode 244. You talk with assurance of unknownsof ancient mariners long gone.Adventurous spirits navigatingby…

Seeds of Love

A poem written for Rebecca Parnham who I spoke with for Episode 145. We talk and in every second sentence I hearSomeone else who helped, another nameWhile division was his…

A poem by Alina Siegfried

This is a poem that a guest, Alina Siegfried, read out during our interview. Listen to Alina Siegfried’s episodes

Planting

Poem reflecting on the conversation with Natasha Zimmerman in Episode 125. Abiding awe, you say.Those words speak to me of patience.Of planting deep into dark soil,grateful for the sun’s warmth.Of…

A poem by Natasha Zimmerman

This is a poem that Natasha Zimmerman wrote to answer my usual question of “where are you from”, as well as a video of her reading it. The poem I…

Edu-agitator

Inspired by David Clifford. That teacher who believedin you.  It was decades agobut the memory is fresh.Who saw potentialwhere others saw none.I can see the tears rising as I ask“What shaped…

Thin Places

Inspired by Peter Beck. The thinnest of barriersseparates us from wonder.From an understanding of love, waiting. As paper cannot be seen throughyet we know it is so thin.Shine a light…

Finding Jewels

Inspired by poet Kathleen Gallagher Some conversations are like jewelsFound, unexpectedly, on a rocky beachA West Coast beach full of grey rockthat has been buffeted by wind, rain, wavesand over…

A Life of Service

Inspired by 90-year-old Sister Mary Scanlon. You describe being 16 and holding the handof an old man breathing his last.Your memory of that moment still,crystal clear though long in the…

Collaborate

Inspired by Holly Norton. Rain falls on my rooflike a thousand fingers typingdrenching all who venture outsmall streams turning into floodmoving the long settled stonewashing up gold nuggets to shore…

A Blessing

Inspired by Mark Ambundo. If our purposes are like arrows pointing in the way we should goI see you have a quiver full and carry with you a strong bow May they…

A privilege denied to many

Inspired by Cheryl Doig. That child, you saidwas killed for stealing five dollars.Decades ago now,yet grief still fresh in a mother’s eyes. What was his name?No response could truly reflectthe value…