artwork by Bronwen
Hello you lovely lot! Here´s prompt three from Bronwen for Winged Words -
‘The eerie’
I have often taken great pleasure in the way that we conjure the supernatural in order to understand the natural, as evidenced in much of our folklore and especially when it comes to birds. The Welsh lore of the Mabinogion depicts starlings as messengers and tells us of the chase between witch and boy as they shapeshift into hawk and wren. Rooks and ravens are noted as harbingers of good and ill fate depending on their roosting patterns, owls as phantoms, and curlews as spectres of doom or even goblins exploring our rooftops during the night. Even swallows have been thought to carry the restless spirits of damned souls.
All these tales and more depict either narratives of cultural foundations or were used as tools to navigate a natural world and life that we did not yet understand. Perhaps the local farmer died because the rooks abandoned their rookery on his land, perhaps the white silent creature gliding into the darkness could only be a ghost, and maybe it is the spooky-billed birds that can be blamed for the unknown bumps in the night around our houses.
For your poem I would like you to explore the folkloric, the magic, or the depths of night. You could call upon your realistic experiences of nocturnal and crepuscular birds, such as the churring nightjar or screeching barn owl. Or perhaps you will write your own folktale in poetry form, a blackbird that brings messages from the underworld or a crane that ushers the moon into position. Maybe you will explore a ghostly or strange experience that has helped you greater understand the workings of our place in the natural order of things, or in our connections to landscapes. Be your poems full of birds, forests, stars or lessons around reciprocal relationships with nature - I am so excited to hear them and to share in your own personal depiction of this liminal world we find ourselves in.
Good luck everyone, and don’t mind the creaking of the branches outside your window. It’s just the crows keeping watch…
-Bronwen
Submission Guidelines -
Submissions open 6th - 25th July
- Poems must relate to the prompt, but wide interpretation is considered. Although we love birds, birds do not necessarily need to be a part of your poem. We appreciate that they can make us think of many things!
- One poem per entry (unpublished work only).
- Please send submissions to wingedwords.weesparrow@gmail.com
- Please only include your name in the body of your email. Poems will be read anonymously, so please do not include your name on your poetry document.
- Please note any relevant social media handles/websites in your email.
- Please include a short bio (50 words max).
- Word docs or PDFs please.
- 40 lines max per poem excluding title.
- All the poems will be read by Bronwen and she will choose one poem per prompt which will be featured in our newsletter.
A wee reminder that submissions over at The Wee Sparrow Haiku Nook are open from the 1st to the 15th of every month. You can find the full details here.
Happy writing!
Chirp Chirp!