Hello and warmest greetings, my dear digital friends. Come race me ’round the Maypole while the snowflakes fly! ❄️ ❄️
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 my adventures in writing.
Now, for some new poetry…
This week’s poem is an example of an ars poetica, a poem that reveals something about the art, purpose, or making of poetry itself.
The phrase is Latin for “the art of poetry,” because apparently poets once required a dead language to explain why they were so difficult at parties. Whoa. Is that true about Catholicism, too?
An ars poetica does not need to announce itself with a trumpet blast or a title containing the word poetry. Some hide in plain sight.
In “Digging,” Seamus Heaney turns the pen into his version of the family spade. In “The Man with the Blue Guitar,” Wallace Stevens lets art bend “things as they are.” Neither poem lectures us about poetry. Each simply shows what the art of making can do.
That is where this week’s poem enters.
It begins with a fact: snow fell in May when the speaker was born. A perfectly respectable detail. A calendar could record it, nod solemnly, and move along.
Poetry is rarely so well behaved.
Soon, the snowfall becomes omen and the family story slips into folklore, carrying the primal charge of something ancient and mysterious, told beside a fire.
That may be the quiet pleasure of an ars poetica.
We watch a poem reveal its instincts while pretending to discuss something else. The subject remains a birth in the snow, but the deeper story concerns the imagination and its refusal to leave a fact exactly where it found it.
Reality may fill out the paperwork. Poetry reads the fine print.
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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the snows of Beltane
i was born in the snow
whose last flakes fell in May,
rarer than a calendar quietly concedes,
more esoteric.
the people danced around
the May tree, ribbons billowing,
hair braided in wildflowers,
boots wet with snow
and melted mud.
me, a wee rarefied bairn,
laid upon hay in a manger
like Jesus
or Saint Walpurga
or maybe Buddha.
the night fires crackled
to the lowing in the fields,
and laughter in the smiling eyes
i once called mother,
a kind moonlight face
that knew love’s layered flush.
and father was a yew,
seedy red, just beyond the firelight,
supple and swaying,
the uncanniest of us all.
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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 ❄️
Love it PS. From the outset I visualised the whole scene in my minds eye.
“A wee rarefied bairn”, a little chubby Buddha, love that.
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Thanks so much, Sandie! So glad you enjoyed it! I’ve been thinking about releasing this poem for quite some time and glad it’s being enjoyed. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🌹🌹☘️☘️