to be cleansed by rain alone

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Be most welcome, my invisible interwebs friends. This week, let’s take a fake stroll through a metaphorical city – when all has grown still. 💨

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, for some new poetry….

I have always been suspicious of easy absolution.

Maybe because we are all so hungry for it. We want time to forgive us. Distance to forgive us. Another new year’s resolution, a haircut we foolishly believe has changed our lives, a few apologies delivered with just enough moisture in the eyes, some grand cleansing event where the world will no longer smell faintly of what we did.

How convenient.

There is a particular human genius for mistaking disappearance for mercy. The stain fades, therefore we are clean. No one mentions those festering wounds at dinner anymore, although we can smell them. The city keeps moving, therefore nothing human has settled beneath it. The lights change. The trains run. Someone hoses down the sidewalk before breakfast.

Behold, civilization.

But I don’t think the evidence leaves us so easily. I think it relocates. It goes underground. It becomes habit, posture, architecture. It sleeps beneath the polite machinery of ordinary days, where we have trained our eyes elsewhere.

That may be the accusation at the heart of this poem: not that the city is filthy, but that it has mistaken endurance for innocence. A person can do that too. Keep walking. Keep smiling. Keep saying fine. Rearrange the furniture around the red wine stain.

Still, eventually, something gives.

The face twitches. The air thickens. Some messes are not asking to be washed away. They are witnesses. And witness, that inconvenient little sacrament, may be the beginning of whatever comes after pretending.

I suppose the harder question is whether we ever get to be only one of them: sinner, saint, witness. Or whether most days, we are all three at once.

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 🌧️ 🌧️ 🌧️

A reflective city street scene after rain, featuring a traffic light changing from yellow to red, with buildings illuminated in the background.

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to be cleansed by rain alone

the wind had fled the city,
left it alone with unwanted thoughts,
and i was its witness.

the stillness,
the stifling silence
had become a scream –

each click of a traffic light changing
from yellow to red,
an unwelcome score upon an already
fevered head, a tic upon a face too anxious
to withhold its own compulsions
from breaking through.

and its skin grew dirty.
i could see it all from my aerie,
windows grimy with shotgunned bird shit,
too thick, too white
to be cleansed by rain alone,

leaves clinging like barnacles
to sidewalks wearing the slough of humanity,
our scaly sheddings,
ground deep by heels that never
knew they once belonged to Achilles.

the smell,
the stifling stink
could find no relief –

and how the city would weep.
deep beneath the sidewalks,
where the rats and the unhoused sleep,
the sobs no longer whisked away on
a chill autumn breeze.

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🌧️ 🌧️ 🌧️ 🌧️ 🌧️

This Week’s Links to My Published Work…

Media News…

*NEW* 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. 12 POEMS published. If you are interested in a reading any of these, I have embedded the Amazon links below.

  1. My 5 untitled haiku have been published in the haiku anthology, Haiku for Soulmates, published by the brilliant and award-winning Gabriela Marie Milton and Literary Revelations Publishing House. This is a gorgeous book – click on the title for the Amazon link.
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  2. My poem mercy were 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.”
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  3. My 3 poems – the wet centre is bottomless, laugh tracks, and three flights away – were 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.”
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  4. 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.
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  5. 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 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:

https://booklife.com/project/life-sucks-memories-and-introspections-during-the-great-covid-lockdown-101267

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 🌧️

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