ISSN awarded

You may have noticed the ISSN appearing in the top right-hand corner of the screen. I just had confirmation form a very friendly contact at the National Library of Australia that I am allowed to continue to use the existing ISSN here in Australia. I always derive a sense of excitement when an ISSN is awarded. It denotes official approval of one's efforts. Good stuff.

Soul Flare

I sent you a wish last night.
Just for you.
While you were sleeping,
And I was awake,
I sent it marked and wrapped.
I tapped it with kisses.
When it was gone I missed it.

Did you get my wish?
You never replied.
Although you didn't need to,
I'd have liked it if you had.
I feel less complete now, but satisfied.
I fell asleep when it was done.
I was tired.

So just in case it was lost in transit,
Just to check,
What it did feel like to receive?
Could you believe it?
Did you laugh? Or cry?
Did you sleep through it?
Did you weep?

Really, I'd like a reply.
I'd like to know why
I'm without a soul.
You never said a word.
I never heard a thank you,
Or a murmur.

It was a gift you couldn't compare.
Just something I drummed up
In my sleepy time.
A soul flare.

Natalie Williams
Liverpool,
United Kingdom

Friendly fellow editor

Have a look at the current issue of Poetry Life and Times, a great UK based poetry mag edited by my good mate Robin Ouzman Hislop. He always manages to get great content and makes a point of supporting new talent. In the current issue there is a mention of AHM and also a few poems by yours truly. Have a look, then come back here and submit a brilliant poem.

Arrived in Oz

Dear readers and poetry lovers, the good news is that your editor has survived his first week in beautiful Balmain. Already, I have seen the interior of quite a number of its famous pubs. I look forward to publishing poems from all over, but it would be nice if I could include a local poem for the first one to hit the pixels of my mag after re-launching here in Sydney. Spread the word and do submit, always submit..

Encounter with the Possible World

Where you can be sitting on a shelf
Half dusty, fully forgotten
When you can have an encounter
With the possible world that you will never forget
And fall hard into the mud one day
Cause your shelf gave out a little after the flood had finally surrendered
Like a curio, your life is an object onto its Self
Like a souvenir from a place
That normally would have been forgotten . That’s how it’s supposed to be…
Except the Possible World will one day arrive
Like a loud accusing angel, just, say, call him Ike.
Ike the invisible equalizer.
Ike the wasteful hunter.
Ike the destroyer of the objects that hold the memories that hold our lives.

Now voyager -
Exchanging one dream for another…
That is what an encounter with the possible world can do.
Even if you are half-dusty


II

(and some God some where works, furiously focused on just today.
I guess like a real God would.
Forgetting the past, forgiving the future
Ready to hear the case of the next accusing angel)


Tony Wynn
Galveston Island, USA
From the collection - 'Hurricane Writings'

Embryo

Lifeless flesh clinging for its life,
Anticipating breath, before it formed a mind
The yearning to have vision, before it formed its eyes.
An immaculate decision, with wisdom from up high.

Buoyant pre-existence, amphibious with persistence
Comfortably claustrophobic, and growing by the inches
Searching for the answers in its maternal prison
Why had I been chosen, or isn’t it my business?

A council of the Angels arrive at their position
Asking all the questions as they sit and watch and listen.
Once the scroll is rolled up the writing can begin
A life that’s full of questions, the answers lay within.

Jason DeAngelis
Caroline Springs,
Victoria, Australia

Not long now!

Just a few more weeks and AHM and I will be leaving for Sydney, Australia. Ancient Heart Magazine will be an Australian poetry magazine, which in itself I quite like. In due course I shall be applying for an Aussie ISSN but the blog/mag needs to get going a bit more first.

I've started spreading the word about AHM's new incarnation a bit more so hopefully we'll see a few more submissions. Counting down..