Publications

The Warriors Order of March

Everyman eventually learns, through due course of simply being
that way back when in the beginning, only seeing was believing.

Warriors brave though still young, wanting to prove worth in this world
the future ahead yet to play out and waiting to be unfurled.

Meeting with the enemy out on the battlefield
where they think their destinies are meant to be fulfilled.

After standing and being counted, long day after day
now gone is the sense of adventure, where heroism once lay.

Left are the tormented and heavy of the heart
a fire baptised soul, now plays its new part.

Deep in the forest, with rich earth under our feet
come faces fresh from battle, where metal met the meat.

The older humbled warriors having endured and yet not yield
now choose to teach next to a fire, whilst sitting on their shield.

No longer to be a part of the defensive wall
where man must often make its stand or suffer the ultimate fall.

Standing shoulder to shoulder through thick and thin
now with help and not alone, facing the demons within.

What is almost certain, is the next call to war
again we will see young fearless souls who step up to the fore.

With the tasks they are given never quite being complete
it is back into the forest, with rich earth under our feet.

This cycle will continue, of this I am sure
for only those who go will know, what truly happens in war.

Nick Goldsmith (former Royal Marine)

Nick Goldsmith is a former Royal Marine Commando, having served his country for 11 years during which he had six operational deployments seeing action over 4 tours of Afghanistan and further afield in specialist overseas operations. In 2018, Nick left the military after developing CPTSD (Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) to found Hidden Valley Bushcraft, a specialist provider of outdoor education and recreational experiences based in the South West of England.

Nick openly shares his story promoting the benefits of the great outdoors, the therapeutic attributes of spending time amongst trees, plants and flowers, and the proven positive impact these have on mental health management. His article ‘Back to nature ~ A personal account of CPTSD’, was published in Trends in Urology and Men’s Health, and provides a candid insight into his personal experience of complex post-traumatic stress disorder and the treatment he received for it.

It is his unique inspirational story of overcoming massive odds through the application of positive growth mindset, that has seen him become the CEO of an award winning outdoor business, a published writer and public speaker. He is supported by his wife and business partner, Louise. They tweet @HVBushcraft

Photo credit @Samidge at http://www.unsplash.com

Hidden Valley Bushcraft ~ https://www.woodlandwarriorprogramme.org/

https://www.hiddenvalleybushcraft.co.uk/

https://rock2recovery.co.uk/

Maryport sea-wall

On one side
the disused railway
measured how much
our legs had grown.

Three steps between runners.
Two.
One easy stride.

The wall offers shelter
from needles, broken glass, condoms.

We turn sideways to inch through the gap.

To find shells, sea-glass
and have our hair pulled high and hard
by Irish sea squalls.

It is not the place
for loose-fitting hats,
full skirts or tie-dyed scarves.

The wall offers shelter
but stepping out makes me
part of the weather
and of nature.
Helps me embrace
my wild, un-walled self,
to enjoy a Sellafield sunset.

Sarah L Dixon

Sarah L Dixon lives in Linthwaite. Adding wax patterns to Wednesday was released by Three Drops Press in 2018. Her first book, The sky is cracked, was released by Half Moon Press in 2017. Sarah’s inspiration comes from being in and by water and adventures with her son, Frank.

10 Poets. 10 Minutes.

She tweets @QuietCompereMcr

Photo credit Peter Henry (Flickr)

https://hiveminer.com/flickr_hvmnd.cgi?method=GET&noform=t&tag_mode=all&search_type=User&sort=Interestingness&originput=www.peterhenryphotography.com&textinput=www.peterhenryphotography.com&photo_number=50&page=2&photo_type=250&sorting=Interestingness&search_domain=User

The blue lagoon
Abereiddy

Here’s a different shade of sea, sanctuary,
her flooded quarry of blue and green,
her depths of being alone by cliffs.

Here’s where divers and seekers come,
the cormorants and shags, they bomb
memories into clay and volcanic ash.

Here’s a wealth of blue, hypnotic pool,
myth of slate and salted water, together
a depth of turquoise, teal, this sea foam.

Here lies the magic of cerulean peace,
a roundness below heights, the song
of choughs, melody of lapping tides.

Here’s where anyone stands with fear,
stares into a common mirror, pyrite and feldspar,
these sapphire dreams and lapis worries.

We all long for a Pan moment and mermaid tales.
We once knew nothing but rock and water, flesh
and scale, silver of fin, our daily smiles of ignorance.

Penny Sharman

Penny has been writing poetry for over 15 years. Her pamphlet Fair Ground published by Yaffle press and her collection Swim With Me In Deep Water can be purchased from her website: http://www.pennysharman.co.uk
Penny is also an artist and photographer inspired by wild and natural landscapes. She tweets @Penycharm

Photo credit @VisitWales by Richie Poor https://www.instagram.com/richies_incredible_britain/

Night in a beach cave

While I wait
grains of sand trickle over skin,

surround all my body.
As I sink into the hollow

rocks settle around me
and creak into comfy darkness.

Water bleeds from hanging walls
drips slow down slopes,

rock pleats into the push and shove
of sedimentary beds,

flow-folded plates
displaced into intense creases

of stress deformation, compaction.
A small fissure makes a flag of sky

as night edges away, grows colder.
Outside, waves thunder onto shore

and as I bury deeper
they shush and dispel to meet a horizon

where light catches sea breath.
At last, dawn arrives

sailing over the brink
to where I sigh in the dark.

Jackie Biggs

Jackie’s second poetry collection, Breakfast in Bed, was published in 2019 by Indigo Dreams Publishing. She was Highly Commended in the Welsh International Poetry Competition and the R S Thomas Festival Competition in 2019. She is a member of the Rockhoppers Coast to Coast Poets performance group. Twitter: @JackieNews

http://Jackie-news.blogspot.co.uk

Breakfast in Bed, info and order details here:  https://www.indigodreams.co.uk/jackie-biggs/4594692749

Photo credit ~ Jackie Biggs

Thorpeness to Aldeburgh

Crepuscular walk through birch woods,
past the windmill and the house in the clouds.
Bracken ignited by the setting sun, and,
at the edge of a red field,
tractor ruts you could lose a shoe in.
The track is undecided between sand and mud;
where land runs out, I shift between beach and path.
The sky sucks up the last of the light,
and the sea is a great beast, quite calm for now,
its regular inhalations setting the pace
for my steps beneath the chewed fruit of the moon
which dodges the clouds.
Beneath streetlights, the houses are mostly blind,
but above them great juicy eyes of stars
stare at the winking satellites and planes.

Hannah Stone

Hannah Stone has published three volumes of poetry, and contributed to anthologies and collaborations and print and online journals. She convenes the poets/composers forum for Leeds Lieder festival, hosts monthly spoken events in Leeds, collaborates with two composers, runs creative workshops and takes an annual writing retreat on the Pembrokeshire coast.

Photo credit @pmason303 at http://www.unsplash.com

Sea Lover

Janey thinks he’s a bit of a hunk, but there’s something about him which chills me. Those blue eyes like shifting tides. I wouldn’t want to risk swimming in there.
He smiles and makes jokes, presents as an affable young man. But when I get too close I find unpleasant images seeping into my mind – drowned children and women with pockets full of stones.
I hear echoes of the last cries of sailors. Caught, as their ship cracks in two, between the deep blue sea and the devil. The dark shapes of sharks dart about him, malevolent and unstoppable.
He looks at the sea too long. The sea looks back.
He doesn’t blink.

Penny Blackburn

Penny Blackburn lives in the North East of England and writes poetry and short fiction. Her publications include pieces online in Bangor Literary Journal, Atrium and Picaroon and in print with Paper Swans Press, Reader’s Digest and Maytree Press. She is on Twitter and Facebook as @penbee8.

Photo credit @IanStauffer at http://www.unsplash.com