nine psalms

Uncategorized 2 comments

Greetings and be everso welcome, my dear invisible friends. Join me for some haunted childhood memories, sitting on the davenport, listening to the Beatles’ Revolution 9 skipping on the record player. 🪶

This week’s poem had me thinking about the weird little objects that somehow outlive the official family story.

Every family has them, I think.

A chipped BEST DAD mug nobody throws away. A hideous coat that keeps hanging in the closet long after its owner is gone. A weathered photograph turned face-down in a drawer. A plant that refuses to die, or worse, keeps resurrecting – and not in a cool Lazarus way.

The object itself is often ordinary. That is how it gets away with carrying so much load.

We pretend memory lives in our heads. I am not so sure. I think memory has a habit of hiding in things. It waits in windowsills and bibles and jewelry boxes and kitchen cabinets. It waits in the half-broken stuff that should be tagged as garbage, but no one knows how to discard.

Then one day we touch it, open it, move it, dust around it, and there it is again, looking straight at us like it paid rent all these years.

Maybe this is why we keep certain things even when they hurt. Not because we want to suffer. Because some objects are among the last tangible witnesses left. They do not explain. They do not forgive. They retain. And most of all, they simply remain.

And sometimes remaining is its own kind of testimony.

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 🪶 🪶 🪶

🪶 🪶 🪶 🪶 🪶

nine psalms

i was nine
when the rook struck our kitchen window.

mother said it wasn’t an omen
yet buried it in unconsecrated ground.

i wasn’t allowed to watch,
though i heard her weeping, soft and low, how daddy loved birds.

she didn’t mark its grave,
but her lilies never grew back their true shade of white.

and the mirror in the hallway stayed cracked like the window…
the kind of bad luck that made daddy sadder.

once i found a black feather
tucked into a pocket of his weathered trenchcoat and felt cold.

i held it up to the light.
it didn’t cast a shadow i recognized anymore.

years later
i found more of those feathers inside mother’s Bible,

gently creased between nine psalms
she had never read aloud.

🪶 🪶 🪶 🪶 🪶

🪶 🪶 🪶 🪶 🪶

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.
    *
  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.”
    *
  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.”
    *
  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.
    *
  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 🪶

2 comments

  1. Your poem is heartbreakingly beautiful. It shows how a single tragedy can cast a long, cold shadow over a family for years. The way the mother quietly carries that heavy secret to protect her child is deeply moving. I love this one, P.S.!

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much, PS!! I think of my mom’s family, and the bizarre, sketchy revelations and secrets over our the course of our lives… freakin’ family. Can I get an amen? 🖤🖤🖤

      Reply

Leave a Reply