And So We Grow

We are pleased to announce the launch of And So We Grow, Dark Angels second poetry collection.

Including work from our featured writer Jonathan Holt, this book presents poetry from the Dark Angels’ community and is inspired by the theme of last year’s Bloomsbury Festival, Grow.

The book is divided into three parts:

Part 1, 26 Plants, includes centenas written by members of writers’ group 26 in response to a project with the Wildlife Trusts.

Part 2, Grow, sees wider responses on the theme of growth that were read at an event at the Bloomsbury Festival last year.

Part 3, fifteen poems from featured writer Jonathan Holt, many of which were started on Dark Angels courses.

We have partnered once more with publisher Paekakariki Press to combine traditional letterpress printing with contemporary poetry, with cover design by David Carroll and cover illustration by Lisa Andrews.

The book is now available to buy from Paekakariki Press.

Opening up and out

By Jonathan Holt

Catastrophes end and springtimes begin

and even cats eventually wake up from their naps

for how long has the sky been the sea

and the TV screen an everywhere?

so go gently into the lightness

and don't worry if your senses seem confused

have faith for a moment in perception's cartwheels

believing that what seems

can be what really is (or what could be)

in a world that's still mostly intent            such as

that whistling could be the texture of fields

or that stripes could be the color of love

or that bird couplings could be the smell of returning

or that a salmon sky could be the roar of wet eyes

or that the taste of renewing could be

a sweet motherless chirp alerting you

that a new calling might alight in your mouth

any second now, if only you'd say something

Writing

Try creating your own plant-inspired centena.

Choose any plant you wish and create a 100-word poem where the first three words of the poem are repeated again as the final three words.

We’d love to see what you come up with, if you’d like to share

Sharing

As with the first book, Dark Angels: Three Contemporary Poets – Book One, the project was collaborative between the writers, who enjoyed the process of sharing and editing their work.

Try sending a piece of your writing to someone you know and asking them to share their thoughts on it.