Welcome to my opera of memories, my dear digital friends. Our theatre has fallen dark and awaits the music of the night.
After reading this week’s poem, if you’re so inclined, feel free to scroll down and check out some of the things happening in my world as I continue these adventures in writing. Now, on to some new poetry….
This week’s poem made me think about the strange mercy of music.
There are feelings we cannot approach directly. They are too bright, too old, too difficult to hold in our hands. So we place them inside melody.
We let a song carry what ordinary language cannot bear. Maybe that’s why music can feel so beautiful yet dangerous at the same time: it does not erase pain. It gives pain a room where it can keep breathing.
Some songs are not entertainment. They are vessels holding old loves, unfinished grief, the sting of memory, silhouettes of regret, a nameless tenderness. They contain the people we cherished and failed to understand completely, which may be true of everyone we love.
I have always been moved by the way music can make sorrow feel almost bearable without making it smaller. A phrase on a piano, a voice down a hallway, a chorus half-remembered from another season of life. These things can gather what has scattered inside us and hold it, briefly, in one trembling shape.
That is one of art’s most mysterious gifts. It cannot undo the past. It cannot return the dead. It cannot forgive our sins. It cannot explain why some loves leave questions no heart can answer. But sometimes it can give that ache a form beautiful enough to face.
And maybe that is enough for one song. Maybe that is enough for one poem.
Have you ever experienced that – a song that unlatches a chamber full of memories you kept locked away for years? I surely have.
As always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts, feelings, and reactions to this week’s poem in the “Leave a Reply” comment section at the very bottom of this page.
-PS Conway 🥀 🎼 🥀
🎼 🥀 🎼 🥀 🎼
the pretty tune you hummed of love
an aria stirs from down the hall
the walls buckle beneath buried lies,
preserved in time like a heartbeat
that swells and trills.
a lyric soprano lilts – memories of Pamina.
and i wonder upon beauty…
your suicide note: a final folded score,
so fluent in goodbye.
music abbreviates feeling then bloats it
a stomach fermented in light, too full.
too full, you wore heels the night i
asked for your hand
in Schenectady.
reminding me of
synecdoche
our performative love, once so full,
so full, yet shivering
like these hollow walls
an aria stirs from down the hall
i never truly learned
the pretty tune
you hummed
of love.
🥀 🎼 🥀 🎼 🥀
🎼 🥀 🎼 🥀 🎼
This Week’s Links to my published work…
- Purchase Echoes Lost in Stars
- on Amazon USA: https://a.co/d/eZPzwxX
- on Amazon Canada: https://a.co/d/ebjqinU
- on Amazon UK: https://amzn.eu/d/avWTF19
- on Amazon DE: https://amzn.eu/d/8IDYSIv
- Purchase Life Sucks
- on Amazon USA: https://a.co/d/arnze2N
- on Amazon Canada: https://a.co/d/8sBYofv
- on Amazon UK: https://amzn.eu/d/brzfJ4l
- on Amazon DE: https://amzn.eu/d/95Y4WAA
- My author website: https://psconway.com/
- My Interview with AllAuthor : https://allauthor.com/interview/psconway/
Media News…
*NEW THIS WEEK* My interview with Steve Cuden for his brilliant podcast StoryBeat – what a great conversation! https://www.storybeat.net/p-s-pat-conway-poet-episode-395/
*NEW* My interview with Editor-in-Chief, Gabriela Marie Milton of Literary Revelations Publishing House: https://literaryrevelations.com/2026/01/25/the-portrait-of-a-poet-ps-conway/
*NEW* My interview with author Tricia Copeland on her podcast Finding the Magic Book is now available to watch: https://youtu.be/NhieYECI-H4
Latest Publication News
It has been a productive last few months for me. 7 POEMS published. If you are interested in a reading any of these, I have embedded the Amazon links below.
- My poem mercy will be published in The Ekphrastic Review on May 12. They are a literary “online journal devoted entirely to writing inspired by visual art. Their objective is to promote ekphrastic writing, promote art appreciation, and experience how the two strengthen each other and bring enrichment to every facet of life.”
* - My 3 poems – the wet centre is bottomless, laugh tracks, and three flights away – will be published in Mouthful of Salt in Issue #3 on April 27. They are “a Black-led literary journal dedicated to bold, boundary-pushing storytelling. Our editorial vision is shaped by a wide range of lived experiences, and we are committed to creating a space where writers from across the globe can be seen, heard, and celebrated.”
* - My poem the color of staying was published in the Spring’26 edition of PHIL LIT Journal on March 15. This literary journal “promotes writing that engages with philosophical, metaphysical, ethical, & existential themes; without sacrificing beauty, craft, surprise, or risk.” Please be sure to check it out.
* - I have 2 poems – paint and i have seen love do the same – published in The Belfast Review, Winter/Spring 2026. Based in the north of Ireland, this gorgeous emerging literary magazine, in addition to poetry, “aims to create a dialogue between the arts, featuring genres not usually included in literary journals such as song lyrics, plays, screenplays, and hybrid forms, to better reflect the lived experience of art, the self, and the city.”
Latest News – Life Sucks…
So far, Life Sucks has received so many ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Editorial Reviews. More to come soon.
I’m anticipating a whole bunch of solid Reader Reviews to begin populating Amazon in the next few weeks, too. The goal is to get to 50 Reader Reviews asap to kick Amazon’s promotion engine into a higher gear.
Speaking of Editorial Reviews, we secured a BIG ONE – BookLife. This is the indie press division of Publishers Weekly and represents a major credibility lift to my published work. Here is a link, in case you’re interested in reading the entire review:
And here are a few other snippets of other editorial reactions so far!
– “Snort-laughs and gasp-worthy wit – PS Conway goes there, and it’s hilarious.”
– “A must-read for anyone stressed, cynical, or just in need of a damn good laugh.”
– “Darkly funny, brutally honest, and weirdly comforting – like therapy, but with colonoscopies.”
🎼 COME BACK EACH WEEK FOR NEW POETRY 🥀
This is so heavy and sad, but really beautiful. It’s crazy how you can live with someone and hear them humming every day, yet still have no idea what’s actually going on inside their head.
Truth, PS. All we can do is be the best we can be in those moments for those we love. And maybe learn to hum the songs with them? Who knows… 🙏🏻🥂🌹😢