Does it taste likesmooth mellow chocolatesweet, smooth and meltingleaving contentmentor is it sharp lemon tartor nutty toasted almondsto savour and linger over Does it taste likepepper, mustard and vinegarharsh on throats hurting stomachsor the cumulative effect ofchilli spice – the cumulative heatthat travels across skin makingperspiration shine andnerves tingle? Does it sound likea celestial choir,Dr… Continue reading What do your senses reveal?
Author: Mary
I write as both Mary Bray and under the pseudonym of Samantha Beardon.
Podcast Episode: Poetry, Imagery And Voice
Pip: There is something quietly radical about the idea that swapping one verb can change the entire emotional weather of a poem — and that is exactly where Sam starts us off on Converging Lives. Sounds, Silence and Imagery. Mara: This episode moves through three territories: how word choice shapes a poem’s soul, how imagery… Continue reading Podcast Episode: Poetry, Imagery And Voice
Poetry deserves precision: Hunting for the Right Words
How do you choose the words that go into your poetry? What are the right words? As the poet, you must ultimately be the judge. But the “right words” shouldn’t just be the first ones you toss onto the paper when you feel the sudden rush to write. The critic Samuel Taylor Coleridge famously noted… Continue reading Poetry deserves precision: Hunting for the Right Words
Night Music
How night changeswith the saxophone’s weep,as notesuntangle themselves—floating in the airlike dandelion seeds.Then, chargedwith bellicose beauty,they meldwith chasing archipelagosfrom nimble fingers,like twirling ribbonsarching through the air.The atmosphere,charged with emotionas the saxophone weeps.
Unwanted Guest
An eight-legged shadow is parked in the place, A master transformer of corners and space. He’s clearing out flies, keeping things in good order, But he’s making me freak—I am no brave marauder! We lock eyes a moment, both freezing in place, A six-foot-tall giant, a speck in his space. My baser instincts tell me… Continue reading Unwanted Guest
Changing Diction: How Word Choice Shifts a Poem’s Soul.
Changing Diction, Changing the Theme: How Word Choice Shifts a Poem’s Soul. In poetry, you can use the exact same scene, the exact same characters, and the exact same sequence of events to tell two completely different stories. How? By changing your diction—your specific choice of words.By shifting your word choices, you change the emotional… Continue reading Changing Diction: How Word Choice Shifts a Poem’s Soul.
The Bloodstream of Romantic Poetry: A guide to controlling imagery.
Images and imagery are the bloodstream of love poetry. They’re how emotion becomes sensory—how longing becomes something the reader can taste, touch, or see. When you control your images rather than letting them drift in randomly, you shape the reader’s emotional experience with precision. Below is a craft-focused guide to how imagery works in love… Continue reading The Bloodstream of Romantic Poetry: A guide to controlling imagery.
The River Teaches
The Rivers TeachesSit comfortably or lay down and open the map with the rustle of intention, unfolding it in your hands like parchment, its edges soft and inviting. Follow the path to the River of Release, here tension dissipates with a deliberate act: listen to the sound of water gurgling over stones. Unclench your jaw,… Continue reading The River Teaches
The Mirror I Stepped Through
Some books begin with a question.This one began with a mirror.The Mirror I Stepped Through grew out of the moments when the self becomes unmistakably visible,the patterns we repeat without noticing, the masks we learned to wear long before we had language for them, the stories that once protected us but now keep us small.… Continue reading The Mirror I Stepped Through
Hope Series
Hope arrives quietly When I unclench my hands A small warmth In the space Where I finally Let something fall. It teaches me That lightness Is also a kind Of strength. This is part of a series of micro poems from my upcoming book Four Arcs of Belonging
Converging Lives. Sounds, Silence and Imagery 