Come join us, my dearest ethereal friends. Let us commune with the spirits of W.B. Yeats, W.H. Auden, and, of course Dylan Thomas, around the cyclical, ritualized beauty of the villanelle. 🕯️
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….
My friend Simon Howard writes villanelles the way some people play jazz standards, with affection, nerve, and a little private mischief.
Every week on Twitter/X, he takes this ancient little machine of recurrence, rhyme, and return, then somehow makes it feel newly alive. Not precious. Not academic. Not trapped under glass in some airless museum of poetic forms. No – his work is alive. Moving. Breathing. Still capable of making trouble.
Which, honestly, is harder than it sounds.
The villanelle can be a beast. Two lines keep coming back whether you want them to or not, and if they are not strong enough to survive their own repetition, the whole thing collapses into sing-song doom.
But when the form works, when the refrains deepen instead of merely repeat, wow! It can do something almost uncanny. It can make obsession audible. It can make grief circle the same room until the room itself begins to change.
Simon reminded me of that.
So this week, I followed him back into the old machinery. I wanted to write something that did not run from its repetitions, but trusted them. Something formal enough to contain darkness so it could not spill everywhere and saturate us.
Maybe that is why I still love received forms, even when the literary world gets a little twitchy around them. Sometimes freedom is not the point. Sometimes the poem needs walls. Sometimes the ache needs a shape older and stronger than whatever passing mood first summoned it.
A villanelle does not escape itself. That, for this poem, was exactly the point.
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 🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️
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by memory of light
we shadows linger where the dark runs deep
unformed, still quickened, by memory of light
we shadows gather where the heavens weep
we call the Maker from His ancient sleep
wake Him to witness our forsaken plight
we shadows linger where the dark runs deep
but the words we sowed were not ours to reap
no answer fell from that unyielding height
we shadows gather where the heavens weep
we lost the names we once loved, ere the creep
of cold that marred every sunrise with night
we shadows linger where the dark runs deep
last threads of what’s left ask their final leap
of faith; not hope, but desire seeking flight
we shadows gather where the heavens weep
when wishes fall on deaf ears, dreams can’t keep
and nothing endures… as if something might
we shadows linger where the dark runs deep
we shadows gather where the heavens weep
🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️
🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️ 🕯️
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* 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.
- 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.
* - 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.”
* - 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.”
* - 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 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 🕯️
You capture how total abandonment erodes identity, leaving behind raw survival instinct instead of hope. The villanelle structure perfectly mirrors that bleak, trapped feeling of being lost in the dark. It is a powerful, haunting piece. Great work, my friend!
Wow, PS! Love that take on the poem…. And so glad the villanelle form worked. Simon keeps me inspired! Thanks, my friend 🖤🥂🌹🙏🏻🥀🙏🏻🖤