Picture
Alexandra Writers' Centre
  • Home
    • About >
      • The History
      • The Mission
      • The Team
      • The Board of Directors
      • Employment & Volunteer Opportunities
      • Our Sponsors
    • Contact
  • Membership
    • Member Showcase >
      • A Poem a Day
      • Two Truths and a Lie
  • Services
    • Current Courses and Workshops >
      • Chapter by Chapter
    • J Michael Fay Subsidy Program
    • ABLit Book Club
    • Annual Writers Retreat
    • Author Development Program
    • Books, Gifts and More...
    • Get Lit Writer Series
    • Manuscript Review Service
    • Many Voices Monthly Writing Contest
    • Writer in Residence Program
    • Writes of Summer - 2023 Short Story Challenge
  • Events
    • People's Poetry Festival 2023

don't forget to breathe by susan rowe

24/5/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
I trek along the stone path
past the rotting tree stump
past the budding forgetmenots
to a patch of English Daisies
 
Drawn towards the hill
One step, two steps
 
The rain washed away
the dust and grime
sins of another time
 
And in the distance
the sun readies for slumber
the sky a symphony of colour
radiated orange streams
through the thin pale clouds
 
With the final stride
I glide
to a misshapen boulder
and sit awhile
 
Different choices
 
A hand reaches out
and grabs hold
fingers entertained with mine
 
Peace, love, forgiveness
 
His smile warms my heart
the future unfolds unceremoniously
 
Opportunities, he said
Let’s find them together
Hope builds within
 
But don’t forget to breathe.
0 Comments

liminalities by josephine lore

23/5/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
my sister held your hand as you drew
your last and told me
your touch faded
finger by finger
until only in
her pinkie
and then
gone
but
papa’
I feel you
differently
in dawn air drawn
into lungs newborn sky
strisce di bianco in un cielo azzurro
a flurry of sparrows rising into beech tree
and echoing your whistle il frischietto del cardinale


This poem was published by the League of Canadian Poets in Fresh Voices #27 in November, 2022.

0 Comments

dressed in birds by hernan restrepo

22/5/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
​Leafless tree
Dressed in sparrows
At dawn.
0 Comments

A Call by Alex rettie

21/5/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
​“You have a call from California, Frank.”
Kev didn’t know what it was all about
until he heard the whisper shift to shout:
“Pay for the funeral? What am I, a bank?”
He slammed down the receiver. “Well, she’s dead.”
What woman could have died that Frankie knew?
All his friends were men, and they were few.
“Someone I know?” Frank smirked, and shook his head.
“You never got that unlucky, doll,” he said.
“It was my ma.” His eye began to twitch.
“She dragged it out to ninety. Goddamn bitch.”
He stretched his shoes out on the king size bed.
 Turned on the TV – Oakland and LA.
“What a Jesus mess! What a fucking day.”
0 Comments

A gay light of spring by adrienne adams

20/5/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
Dappled light bright, filters
through the warmth of day cools it’s back
sucks itself clean, spits out sunshine, queers itself
Whole.
 
The Gay Light of Spring.
The way I like men who wear skirts, best;
and long hair trailing soft,
whispering muscles against lace;
kilts to be exact.
Doing yoga on craggy rocks.
Atmosphere offers itself up,
opens to tendrils curling
around the ornate buttons on his velvet down jacket.
A fancy dandelion to blow my wishes on;
 and her hair, whizzing by.
All in one instant;
everything cascades in a cacophony of birds singing, insisting, spring
Is here.
Though the wet snow blankets everywhere;
the ducks are, in fact, waddling across the white lawn looking for grubs.
 
The ice that cracked through to more ice ,
Will,
melt.
Everything in its’ own time,
 
Spring;
 
                                                     and sorrow too.
0 Comments

Longing by susan Rowe

19/5/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
The blustery cold wind whistles
as the rain skates across the window pane.
 
Waves crash against the ragged stone wall
painting the grey stained fence
 
A faded red Adirondack chair jumps
leaving a scar on the path
startling the uninvited magpie
 
Trees sway in harmony
as the river dances unaware
 
A forgotten garden, long since vibrant,
casts a shadow on the golden grass
 
Inside, the quiet whispers a soft melody
the music stills (calms) my soul
I turn away, forgetting the storm outside
reaching for my grandmother’s handmade blanket
and her favourite book
 
Her sweet voice sings softly
in my memories
 
I will not cry today.
0 Comments

concrete conceit by allison brigden

18/5/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
​Glistening limestone
Crushed in modernity’s maw
Churned with 
sand that yearned to be glass
gravel that was born a mountain
Whisked with water, in which
trilobites trolled, that
quenched Antarctic deserts, and
washed away sins, now
Ignites a reaction
arresting dust to stone.
 
Glistening so--
it could be wet yet.
 
The bleached block beckons
My boot arcs through atmosphere
intent on testing new ground
I don’t know what to wish for
my sole soul vacillates--
Make your mark
Leave no trace
Make your mark
Leave no trace…
 
In the end, I laugh at my follied footfall
Destiny already declared
The sidewalk, already set.
0 Comments

paginas sin numerar by ron ostrander

17/5/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
(Puerto Vallarta - Febrero 2019)
 
beneath high-ceiling sepia traces
of decades of summer rain
 
behind drapes drawn heavy with dust
the velvet tatters of winter
 
from an antique framed mirror
she turns away at last
 
this white-haired woman, to hum
her comrade song into a silence frayed
by shimmering fractals of melody
 
her hibiscus-red silk housecoat
rumpled sheets on an unmade bed
 
midday coffee and bleak lament
for the last revolution lost
 
in a history of unnumbered pages
too many, or too few, to count
0 Comments

guest by lucia semenoff

16/5/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Apology by heather krueger

15/5/2023

0 Comments

 
Picture
​In the apartment below, 
a cigarette burns. The world 
is a slow spin and we circle, 
 
searching for weakness, 
eat each other’s words for dinner, snack 
between meals. My teeth are always hungry.
 
I sliced the pineapple and you forgave me. 
Excuses run down our chins and still, 
we eat. 
 
The wind sends snow across the back alley, 
an unending game. This is your nightmare and I am 
the disaster. A cold snap descends 
 
and every time the door opens, the birds break 
and scatter. The temperature follows the sun and I inhale; smoke 
signals danger. 
 
Pineapple is trucked thousands of miles and we wrap memories 
around our tongues. How many times 
have we rolled the dice? There is one way to win, 
 
even if birds die, even if 
we eat poison and it drips down 
our chins. Let it slide like an apology.  
0 Comments
<<Previous

    SUBMIT YOUR POEMS

    The Alexandra Writers Centre is full of so many wonderful writers from all backgrounds. We are pleased to be able to showcase some of the fabulous poets during poetry month and beyond. Keep sending us your poetry and we will publish on a rolling basis. We look forward to showcasing your work. 

    Archives

    May 2023
    April 2023

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Home

Course and Workshops

About

Contact


Membership

Adult Program

Special Programming

Events

Youth Program

Literacy Education

Alexandra Writers' Centre Society
460, 1721, 29th Ave SW
Calgary, AB T2T 6T7


403.264.4730
General Inquiries: info@alexandrawriters.org
  • Home
    • About >
      • The History
      • The Mission
      • The Team
      • The Board of Directors
      • Employment & Volunteer Opportunities
      • Our Sponsors
    • Contact
  • Membership
    • Member Showcase >
      • A Poem a Day
      • Two Truths and a Lie
  • Services
    • Current Courses and Workshops >
      • Chapter by Chapter
    • J Michael Fay Subsidy Program
    • ABLit Book Club
    • Annual Writers Retreat
    • Author Development Program
    • Books, Gifts and More...
    • Get Lit Writer Series
    • Manuscript Review Service
    • Many Voices Monthly Writing Contest
    • Writer in Residence Program
    • Writes of Summer - 2023 Short Story Challenge
  • Events
    • People's Poetry Festival 2023