Friends in San Francisco have an opportunity to sit with one of my favorite poets, Cedar Sigo, tomorrow evening at City Lights Books (also online).

"Cedar Sigo’s latest poetry collection, Siren of Atlantis, is an introspective odyssey of remarkable poetic and personal resonance.

"Here are poems that speak to Sigo’s profound experience of learning to write again after suffering a stroke in 2022. In creating this work, the author retraces poetic sources and reexamines style and tone, using a variety of compositional techniques to renegotiate what is at stake in the work. There is a joy in this collection, as Sigo allows us to bear witness to the rediscovery of language, imparting the work with a new and dramatic clarity, for the poet and ultimately for the reader as well."

#poetry #CityLights #WaveBooks

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Cedar Sigo | City Lights Booksellers & Publishers

https://citylights.com/events/cedar-sigo/

Today in Labor History April 6, 1781: Tupac Amaru II was captured in Peru after being denounced by a turncoat. He led a large Andean uprising against the Spanish in Peru. As a result, he became a hero in the Peruvian struggle for independence and the indigenous rights movement. The Tupamaros revolutionary movement in Uruguay (1960s-1970s) took their name from him. As did the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary guerrilla group, in Peru, and the Venezuelan Marxist political party Tupamaro. The American rapper, Tupac Amaru Shakur, was also named after Tupac Amaru II. Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda, wrote a poem called “Tupac Amaru (1781).” And Clive Cussler’s book, “Inca Gold,” has a villain who claims to be descended from the revolutionary leader.

#indigenous #genocide #peru #tupac #inca #colonialism #poetry #fiction #pabloneruda #Revolutionary #socialism @bookstadon

I love this frame which visually embodies the concepts of "mujo" (無常) and "mono no aware" (物の哀れ).

"Mujo" is Buddhist concept of impermanence and "mono no aware" is finding beauty in life due to this impermanence.

I penned the following haiku in Japanese and English inspired by this frame.

花が咲く
いつも儚い
命かな

Cherry blossoms bloom
Always so ephemeral
Alas, such is life

#dailyhaikuprompt - squash

New home, pick colors --
Dove Grey, Silver Mist
(Butternut N/A)

sharing the warm sun
daffodils and daisies thrive
room for everyone

"I will come to you, when you are tired
when you need rest and reassurance
like a bed of well-earned pearls, and dancing

I have seen you dance"

#TodaysPoem #poetry @poetry
A Conversation With a Musician and a Forest by Richard J Tilley (@richard) https://tinyurl.com/nerztdun

Your carolan’s blythe, bricht bird i the blackthorn bou,
this braw Voar morn, wi trill eftir spirlan trill,
tho you only ken the warld as it liggs the nou,
an nocht but a glisk concerns your chatteran bill…

—Maurice Lindsay, “On Hearin a Merle Singan (Arbroath Day, April 6th, 1946)”
published in A KIST O SKINKLAN THINGS (ASL, 2017)

https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/volumes/a-kist-o-skinlan-things/

Now's the time to quash
Rampant rumours of Sasquatch
Really. Squash the Squatch

#dailyhaikuprompt - squash
#haiku
#poetry
#poetrycommunity
#writing
#writingcommunity

Unction
A #poem in two parts

—

i.

A life of chronic sickness
both of body and of mind.
I am thirsting for some witness
to let my soul unwind.

All alone in a house
of prayerful solitude,
a baptistery to douse
my inner thirsty mood.

Springtime meal
bottle after bottle—
laughter swelling.

Searching the Night

© Simon J Ashcroft, 2025

a bird of prey
left our garden
with a mouse
pink petals
on soil and stones
the bird sat
on a tree
before its flight
I was told all this
but I saw the petals
myself

The #MastoPrompt for Sunday 6 April 2025 is:

#severe

The poem or story can include the prompt word or be about the prompt word.

@ me, if you like, or just include the #MastoPrompt tag (to allow people to follow or filter their feeds), or keep your work to yourself - all the options are good as long as you're writing.

If you're including an image please do include alt-text if you’re able to.

Let this
small prayer
bring hope
to fight despair,
a simple ask
to things unseen,
give us strength
to be serene.

#poem
#poetry

Raven
Here you are,
Shining in the silver morning
Summoned up by memory
And the noticing of absence
A stately dance
Balancing perfectly
The power of flow
And the pull of the earth
Moving gently
Through heavy air
With ease
Darkness and light
Revealed by the poise
Of certainty
Where did you learn
to bend with the wind
Like a rush on the mountain?
Feathers flickering
Soft humming
As the breeze strums through you
The spirit of dark music
#poetry

from frosty night
to warm sun
takes all morning

#dailyhaikuprompt - warm sun
#haiku
#poetry
#poetrycommunity
#writing
#writingcommunity

@dailyhaikuprompt

@poetry

@haiku