haiku by Faustina

vast blue. brilliant orange.
where does a sunset begin?
only where day ends.

(to see this haiku with the accompanying photo visit: page)


without seeing, calm
hiding in the trees, cold mist
feel it there, crisp quiet

(to see this haiku with the accompanying photo visit: page)

Faustina , Georgia, USA

Morning Fog by Bondbloke

A thick cunning fog slinks in from the sea,
Lending the morning a ghostly chill, and,
An uncanny mixture of tranquillity and dread.
Terrifying in its silence and gentleness,
Like the harbinger of some impending catastrophe.

The tea-tray flat sea, a mirror no more,
The curious, creamy, smooth water covered
By a nebulous shroud of bleached opaqueness.
Blurring the outlines of all it encounters,
Deadening, distorting the disembodied sounds.

Beyond the shore we hear the putt, putt, putt,
Of a boat's engine as, tentatively, warily,
It gropes its way through nature's curtain,
Following the mournful wail of the fog-horn,
Trying to attain once more the safety of the harbour.

Bondbloke, Leith, Scotland

Whitby Jet by Sally Evans

Black stone soft to carve
beads, ornament, brooches.
Stone, fine and intricate,
to wear, to revel in,
and slowly break.

Below gull torn skies
in the fishing town,
by Staithes, under quayside sails,
the sharp glitter, a dark rainbow
in booths.

Night flowering, a perennial glow
of east coast darkness, the poet-monk
Caedmon's fire.

Sally Evans, Callander, Scotland

Reviews of Bolts of Silk

You can read reviews of Bolts of Silk by following these links:

Review in One Night Stanzas
Review on Poet a Day Blog
Review in Literary mag

Welcome to Bolts of Silk!

The title, Bolts of Silk comes from Dark Matter, a vivid poem by the wonderfully talented Rebecca Elson, who died tragically young. Unfortunately copyright permission is beyond the budget I have for this project, but I would definitely recommend looking out for A Responsibility to Awe, the collection that contains this poem.

Another inspiration for the title is the fact that bolts of silk were traditionally given as prizes in Japanese poetry competitions.

I hope this blog will feature poetry from across the world, poetry that has something to say and says it beautifully. Beyond that it is of course, down to my personal taste!

Biographical details where available will be included in the comments section underneath each poem. Aditionally, contributors will have one link to a blog or website (if they have one) in the side panel as well as in the post that contains their poem. If you like what you see of their work here, please visit their online homes to read more!

Please Read the Submission Guidelines

Bolts of Silk aims to showcase beautiful poetry with something to say. Submissions are welcome at any time. If you would like me to consider your work for publication, please send between three and six poems of up to 40 lines in length in the body of an email, with 'Bolts of Silk' in the Subject Line (this is important as it helps me to keep an eye on submissions!) to Juliet.M.WilsonATgmailDOTcom. Poems should not have been published in the past six months, unless on a personal blog or website. Please note that there may be problems publishing poems that are not simply formatted.

I can accept poems in English, Scots dialects, German, French, Italian or Spanish. I will also consider poems in other languages, especially Rumanian, Dutch or Scandinavian languages. Please however supply English translations! Poems in English will use American or UK (or other accepted variant) Spelling depending on the poets usage. Please proof read your poems before sending them, numerous errors in spelling and grammar reduce the quality of a poem in the eye of an editor and can lead to rejection.

Please include the address of your website or blog if you have one, so I can link to it! I will include your biographical details, where offered, in the comments section under poems. Please let me know your Twitter username if you have one so I can maximise publicity through Twitter!

As Crafty Green Poet I have a particular interest in poems about nature or environmental issues. However, I am keen for Bolts of Silk to cover a range of themes, so send me poetry on any subject, though please no obscenity or indecency. Poems with a seasonal reference are published in the season they refer to, in the hemisphere they were written in.

All contributors will have one weblink in the side panel as well as in the post that contains their poem. Due to the large number of contributers, I can now only offer one sidebar link per poet. This will be to the poet's blog and only if the poet doesn't have an up-to-date blog will it be to a website. I can link to Facebook fan pages but not to Facebook personal profiles.

I will reply as soon as possible to all submissions, this will usually be within a month. If I haven't got back to you within six weeks, please feel free to remind me of your submission. I will publish as and when, depending on how many appropriate submissions I get at any one time, usually two or three poems a week.

Please wait at least two months before sending another submission after publication or rejection.

Rejection is a necessary part of poetry journals. I may not like your poem, but equally I may just feel it won't fit in well with other current poems lined up for publication. Please don't be too disheartened if I do reject your work, but note I can't enter into correspondence about why I've rejected your work.

Although not an essential criterion for publication, I'd like to encourage contributors to link to Bolts of Silk from their website or blog and/or to follow the blog through Networked Blogs or Google Friends.

Copyright for all poems remains with the author.