My Poem, Safe … The Pandemic

November 28, 2023 ~ Libby Sommer ~ 1 Comment

Have a read of my poem, ‘Safe … The Pandemic’ first published in ‘Milestones’ Anthology (Ginninderra Press). It is also one of the poems in my debut collection, ‘The Cellist, a Bellydance & Other Distractions‘ (Ginninderra Press).

I hope you enjoy it.

Safe … The Pandemic:

Everyone needs order,

clothes rehung,

cut roses secured in

a vase.

When we move,

when we place one foot

and then the other,

we can put small things in place,

an email to a friend in another country,

bags of rubbish carried out

to the bins.

Our brains, wired this way,

want the winter doona

smoothed squarely across the bed,

the freezer stocked, and remotes

in position.

After we get out, we have only to move

cautiously, surrounded by so much space.

My Poem ‘Distraction’

November 13, 2023November 13, 2023 ~ Libby Sommer ~ 2 Comments

Have a read of my poem, ‘Distraction’ first published in Burrow, Old Water Rat Publishing. It is one of the poems in my debut poetry collection, ‘The Cellist, a Bellydancer & Other Distractions‘ (Ginninderra Press) 2022.

I hope you enjoy it.

Distraction:

My crimson bougainvillea

lives in a good-drainage-pot.

I feed it fertilizer, and I keep

the soil a little on the dry side.

The bougainvillea thrives

with five hours of full sunlight a day,

scrambling vigorously up

a frame attached to the wall.

It flowers three times a year

with heavy pruning, lack of overwatering,

a fertiliser low in nitrogen and its roots

slightly restricted in a small container.

I watch the plant’s flourishing from my bed:

its blooming brings beauty to my day.

It stops me from watching the latest news.

My Poem, ‘Her Amber Necklace’

September 5, 2023 ~ Libby Sommer ~ 4 Comments

amber stones that form the shape of a necklace

Have a read of my poem, ‘Her Amber Necklace’ first published in ‘The Thirteenth Floor’ XIV UTS Writers Anthology. The poem is part of my debut poetry collection ‘The Cellist, a Bellydancer & Other Distractions‘ (Ginninderra Press). Hope you enjoy it.

Her Amber Necklace:

my mothers dead

my mothers dead my brother said

he jumped in the air and

clicked his heels together

her children and grandchildren

and great grandchildren all came

jumping and bouncing

on forbidden chairs

we all laughed

now

distant lights scatter black night

a bus rumbles up Bondi Road

clock ticks in the empty kitchen

only the ticking

then

a dog barks outside

her woollen jumper warms me

her amber necklace hugs my neck

My Poem ‘Twisted Tea’

September 13, 2022 ~ Libby Sommer ~ 13 Comments

Have a read of my poem ‘Twisted Tea’ first published in ‘For Ukraine: by Women of the World‘.

Dr Diann Rogers Healey, founder of the Australian Centre for Leadership for Women called for and brought together a collection of poetry and prose by 35 writers from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, United States, and the United Kingdom. We wrote in solidarity with those impacted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

All proceeds from the sale of the book will go to United Nations Women Australia for assistance in Ukraine. Available on Amazon and other online outlets. Please read the book and review.

Twisted Tea

I splattered the last of my favourite

loose leaf tea all over the floor today,

when I lost my grip on the lid.

Twisted Oolong produced in Ukraine

it said on the label.

But it is a time of such sadness,

a spilt canister of loose leaf

is hardly worth mentioning.

So many shattered tea sets

buried in the rubble.

Ceramic pots and porcelain mugs,

smashed.

Fierce railroads bombed, buildings, farms.

Civilians tortured.

“Filthy scumbags,”

said President Zelensky.

“What else can you call them?”

I watch a woman sob on camera.

“Their soldiers are barbaric.

They don’t understand.

They are murderers.”

It is hard to consider sipping tea

without crying into the cup.

Will the small tea plantation

—out of the line of fire for now—

be spared?

I’m holding as tight as I can

to the thought that one day

we’ll be able to celebrate

with a pot of rare twisted oolong loose

leaf tea produced on a small farm

tucked away somewhere

in a corner of Ukraine.

Copyright 2022 Libby Sommer

My Poem, ‘Quarantine’

August 21, 2022 ~ Libby Sommer ~ 2 Comments

My poem ‘Quarantine’ was first published in Quadrant magazine in September 2020. It was written during the first year of the Covid pandemic.

Have a read. Hope you enjoy it.

Quarantine:

But there still are the other things –

water’s rhythmic tumble

over rocks,

the gentle hush of wind through leaves –

we celebrate

in solitude.

Copyright © 2022 Libby Sommer

My Poem, ‘His Coriander’

August 9, 2022 ~ Libby Sommer ~ Leave a comment

His Coriander:

Flourishing above the planter box, it’s ready for harvesting.

I snip the curling tendrils with their skinny stalks,

hearing the clean snap of stem from dense green foliage.

At the end of a rain-filled night, the earth smells heady.

He took his suitcase, his cello, and his sheet music.

He left the fragrant coriander seeds,

said, Tending a relationship is like keeping a plant alive.

So I’ll take this herb

inside to the kitchen and chop it.

I’ll disperse it piece by piece with my hands,

the longed-for exotic spice of citrus and curry.

I’ll be forever grateful for escape,

from my infatuation

with coriander.
Copyright Libby Sommer 2022

‘His Coriander’ was first published in Quadrant Magazine September 2020

My Poem ‘Hostilities’

June 19, 2022 ~ Libby Sommer ~ 6 Comments

My poem ‘Hostilities’ is published in this month’s Quadrant magazine, available in newsagents, good book stores and in libraries. Big thank you to Literary Editor, Barry Spurr.

Hostilities:

I worry about the ones
who disbelieve in science,
the ones on social media
with no qualifications
but a good command
of gobbledygook,
and the one who said
she’d had enough of wimps like me.
Scientists observe and calculate,
study the risks,
wave us across
as we wait by the side of the road,
even though the science of pandemics
is incomplete.
It takes a lot of guts sometimes
with those who are close to us.
Relatives, old school friends, intimates …
Anti-vaxxers still find arguments
to fire at us. I think of Aristotle’s warning:
there is only one way
to avoid criticism –
do nothing, say nothing,
and be nothing.
Copyright 2022 Libby Sommer

My Poem ‘Holding On’

June 5, 2022 ~ Libby Sommer ~ 4 Comments

Submissions to the fifth issue of Australian literary journal Burrow are open until July 20.

I’m very happy to say my poem ‘Holding On’ was accepted for the upcoming September edition.

The editors, Rhiannon Jillian Hall and Phillip Hall wrote:

“We are delighted to be able to publish ‘Holding On’. This is such a richly evocative and appreciative poem of place, & emotional/spatial fragility. We love it.”

I encourage my fellow poets to check out this fabulous journal. The provocation for the September issue of Burrow, Old Water Rat Publishing is : What does mental health (good or otherwise) look like through the prism of place?

My Poem, ‘Jogger At My Heels’

March 6, 2022 ~ Libby Sommer ~ 7 Comments

My poem, ‘Jogger At My Heels’ was first published in The Canberra Times, Panorama arts section 20 November, 2021. Have a read. Hope you enjoy it.

Jogger At My Heels:
Each morning he races up the steep
steps of the gully and then down again
on the path I take
to buy my daily newspaper.
I recognise his exhalations just behind
and apologetic grimace running back,
urging me to move aside
to let him through,
but today I understand him
more fully than before.
Hearing my own heavy breathing
as I walk up the gigantic slope
I’m sure he’d like to say, Don’t rush
don’t rush.
… but he’s in too much of a hurry.
Copyright 2021 Libby Sommer