Philippa Bowe

Ha! Well it's a big moment. Mine left the nest years ago, but there was something about him being so geographically far away (southeast Asia) that really tugged...Hope you are finding some joy in the empty nest? 😆

Thanks Paul! How you bearing up after yesterday? Going to be a long tough season I fear... 😢⚽🙏

Thank you! Yes, those paper notes are what spoke to me, I got them from a description of soldiers in the American civil war. 🙏

Thanks Gary - and apparently no, we're totally incapable of learning! 🙏

Many thanks John! 🙏

Thank you Karen - yes, I dipped into history, but sadly it has not been relegated to history as it should be! 🙏

Thank you! 🙏

Thanks Rachel - I was happy with 'smarting wombs', definitely drawing on recent experience (tho' not in the same tragic vein of course!) when one of my boys went travelling for months, so happy for him but definitely felt a smarting when we waved him off on the train! 🙏

Thanks so much Debra! 🙏💜

Thanks for these lovely words! 🙏

Poem: Weighted Silence The air is heavy with silence, the quiet is a roar of denial– there is no war, no marching bands no cheering crowds no reports of fallen soldiers, (tagged and tattooed in advance) no one cries, no one is seen crying, all support, we’re in full support, this operation’s to protect and save— do not say otherwise, wiser to say nothing at all. The air is heavy with silence. That silence is heavy with fear.

Good morning! For #PoemsAbout #DogTags Another tough one! Thank you to @alanparrywriter.co.uk and @thebrokenspine.co.uk #Poetry

So powerful and gorgeous, particularly love the way the end circles back to the beginning. Made me think of the song And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda (The Pogues' version). ✨

Happy Friday #BlueSkyPoets! #PoemsAbout #DogTags
@thebrokenspine.co.uk
@alanparrywriter.co.uk
@karenpgonzalez.bsky.social
Have a glorious day and weekend! Excited as always to read the amazing artistic work presented here!

So beautiful in all the tragedy, love how you've made it so visceral, so rooted in the natural world, the stuff of the heavens. ✨

Ukrainian Dog Tags     No one wore them We all knew who they were Boys at play in vineyards And wheatfields Almost grown Into fine men Ploughed under On battlefields Watered with tears - Bloodied homeland Invasion Reaps only what it sows karen pierce gonzalez

I offer this for #poemsabout #dogtags @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk #StayCreative #PoetsSupportPoets

Oh Karen how heart-breaking, that 'ploughed under' has brought tears to my eyes - the power of poetry! 🙏

Thanks Merril, I haven't read yours yet, jumping over now! 🙏

That is such a lovely poem - so much love in there, congrats! 🙌

And thank you for the lovely words! 🙏

Have to get back to work now (day job calls!) but look forward to reading lots more over the weekend. 💫

What a lovely, sad piece. The rhythm of the last lines and the shifting calling of names is so effective, and I love how you take us from the beginning to the end of a love affair with the seasons. ✨

Oh I love this, especially the 'tiny barnacles of skin'! Such a wonderful take on the prompt. ✨

Short and visual and very very powerful: a gut-punch. ✨

Thanks so much! 🙏

Thanks so much! 🙏

Thank you for those lovely words! I found the prompt almost too specific - but hey, good to be pushed out your comfort zone, right? 🙏

Shaded grey box with a poem: all that remains we don’t cry when they leave us women with our smarting wombs and unbroken backs we don’t cry when the silence from the front line is louder than sorrowing words we don’t cry when their bodies return paper notes pinned to backs shaking letters telling us who and where we cry once we bury them flooding their graves clutching our relics tight to our ragged hearts

Morning poets! Struggled a little with the #PoemsAbout prompt this week, #DogTags. Looking at the history of them I discovered soldiers in the American Civil War pinned paper notes to their backs, so went with that. Happy Friday! 💜
Thanks as ever to @thebrokenspine.co.uk @alanparrywriter.co.uk

Wow Alan, this is a stunner! Everything is there, all the messiness and longing and sweat. Fave line I think is 'I want the migraines and the hardons' 🙌🏽🤩

Ikr? 😀

You're so very welcome - totally deserved! ✨