A new paper child soon to be born

In less than a month, if all goes well, a new paper child will be born. It will be launched in less than a month here in South Africa, in a book shop in Plumstead (details in a separate announcement soon). And then I will present it to a another audience in a function room of a restaurant in Observatory later. A library has so far indicated interest in hosting me. I’m also trying to get support from other institutions (can’t name any until confirmed).

Dear friends, even as we all know that so many disturbing things are happening in this and in different parts of the world, some good things also burst forth to surprise us, giving us a most stubborn hope that each day is not just a challenge, but also a gift.

To be able to share what gives us meaning with the people we know and love, with people who start out as strangers and end up as friends – or at least as someone less distant – is the joy of the journey, though solitary it may have been when it began.

Please welcome my new paper child.

UPDATE…

The book is published by Deep South, run by Robert Berold (https://www.facebook.com/deepsouthpublishingco).

Here is the Goodreads page for the book https://www.goodreads.com/…/60759779-bloodred-dragonflies. Pre-orders for SA readers through me for now… the first launch is on Tuesday 3 May at The Book Shoppe (https://www.facebook.com/TheBookShoppeCT).

Ebook version available in a few weeks via the African Books Collective (https://www.facebook.com/AfricanBooksCollective).

Hard copies to be released later in the year in the Philippines via San Anselmo Publications (https://www.facebook.com/sananselmopress)

Please share this post with your friends and family who might like poetry – or those who might hate poetry and surprise themselves at being converted. Haha.

Here are two samples from the book…

The Way a Heart Ricochets

The call of a guinea fowl

in the late hours, a wheel

on an axle that needs oiling,

spun by the wind or a hand

that remains unseen.

Things you never touched

now seem near and distant

at the same time.

-o-

The Path of the Wind

I have seen days when the wind

weighs so heavy on trees, they bend

close to breaking. A limb

with the greenest leaves

or weakened by age would have to give in.

The trunk may have to learn a new angle

sunward. Less apparent is the path

the wind must make. It has to unravel,

splitting itself into countless strands

to navigate between each leaf, each branch.

-o-