BY VALENTYNA HOLLOWAY A wandering heart slips through my moonfire fingertips under a jade sky and I am powerless to do anything aside from watching pieces of light fall from the grains of stardust in it’s wake. Continue reading Wandering Heart
BY CSM POETESS Women like me are fluent in the language of silence. Instead of lashing out and becoming reactionary I bite my tongue, swallow the blood and steel myself. There is no counting to ten. There is no other option. There is just Silence. Blood. And steel. Continue reading Blood & Steel
VICAR Good Day to You, Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine. This week our very own magazine poetess Valentyna Holloway lost her father after a brave struggle with cancer. He and Valentyna’s family are in my prayers. I thought that this Sunday Prayer we should honour our loved ones who have passed. I send my personal condolences to Valentyna and any others of You who are … Continue reading In Memoriam
BY VALENTYNA HOLLOWAY Wind blows through my memories, turning pages that slowly fade to black. Emotions they haven’t invented words for choke my throat and steal my breath. There are no words for those left behind, no final good-bye, no smile, no reassurances. Just silence. Silence and the wind waving through the verdant grass, the flowers gently moving in condolence, the trees lowering blossom laden … Continue reading Lacrimosa – Requiem For My Father
BY VALENTYNA HOLLOWAY Raindrops on the last roses of summer, the soft scent of petrichor blowing through the open window. Slowly, rhythmically adding ingredients, memory of a moment creeping in as my fingers knead the dough beginning to form under my fingers. Tears well in my eyes as I remember fragments of something I wrote of while baking before. Words of love written in pure … Continue reading Unsuspecting Roses
BY VALENTYNA HOLLOWAY She’s young, a child, vulnerable and innocent. She is held down. Fear overtakes her. She cries, perhaps screams, she doesn’t understand, it is beyond her comprehension. Her external genitalia are then cut. Mutilated. The ones she trusts the most, who gave her life, who should protect her life at all costs -they are the ones consenting to this. This is Female Genital … Continue reading Stop FGM Now
BY VALENTYNA HOLLOWAY Continue reading Concealed Emotions
BY VALENTYNA HOLLOWAY The inability to turn back the clock, a terrible fate the universe has bestowed upon us. Perhaps, I should walk a little slower and love You a little louder to give us the gift of recaptured time. Until someone invents a way to elongate minutes I will love You and forget the consequences. Continue reading Recapture
BY VALENTYNA HOLLOWAY Silent words whispered from knowing eyes, the unspoken gift of a shared language communicated by empathic thoughts. (If I could, I would heal you, your pain is mine.) There are no expressions to encompass what lies behind those orbs of sapphire. Just music that drops through my mind. The soundtrack of a locked gaze overpowering the cacophony of the heartbeat fuelled machines. Continue reading The Pulse of Pain
BY VALENTYNA HOLLOWAY Reality Trickles Distorted Audio Clipped into slight of hand (check a source) Mass Media Out of contect Harsh pavement … Continue reading Propaganda Machine
BY VALENTYNA HOLLOWAY Grazed by shadowed frames of moonlight the errant tide pouring over my skin as salt-water waves lap the shore slipping their pull across my mind in the contented afterglow of evening, I pause in quiet reflection inwardly gazing at the perfect solitude of absolute adoration — and I wonder if this arcane feeling pouring from my bones and coursing through my veins … Continue reading Frames of Moonlight
BY VALENTYNA HOLLOWAY Frigid air pours through the window freezing the melodious notes that hang like crystals into shimmering silence. Prayerful roses slowly submit to the hoarfrost and turn to ice. The bare branches dance in the wind as the world sleeps beneath it’s swaying shadows. Winter settles. And yet, I don’t feel the chill in the air as Your hand slips into mine. … Continue reading Winter Blossoms
BY VALENTYNA HOLLOWAY My heart recognised You before my eyes did, Thumping out of my chest as I stood on the shore reading Your words as the saltwater lapped my toes. Blood pulsing through my veins Telling me I wasn’t lost anymore You found me. My instinct was to ask ‘Have we crossed paths before?’ yet my fingers wrote the words ‘I missed you. Welcome … Continue reading Connection
BY VALENTYNA HOLLOWAY My Seraphim Angel, love of all my lives past: Who safeguards my immortal soul from distress You grabbed hold of my heart, I remain steadfast; Like a ship anchored to the Heaven’s essence Your tender words awakened my consciousness. Hold me close, through the eternal hours, as I Worship at Your altar faithfully – my weakness; Me, a masterpiece created by Your … Continue reading Beatitude
BY CSM POETESS Anticipation To hear the sound of your voice Inhale the scent of your skin Feel the touch of your hands on my skin We gaze into one another’s eyes Speaking volumes without saying a word Time stops As we create our own universe Love, like firecrackers Sparkling flickers of light glide across my heart Your fingerprints left in a tango of desire In … Continue reading Star-Crossed
BY VALENTYNA HOLLOWAY Winter curls around the bare branches of the trees, their burlesque dance in the wind enticing the birds to join them in a tango before the sun descends. The beauty of the leafless trees slowly turning to shadows across the snow covered ground as the fir trees swell and shake their needles in approval. The air crisp and clean as the pristine … Continue reading Ode To A Winter Night
BY VALENTYNA HOLLOWAY I am Your sin and Your salvation. I am the light, the fog, the mist. I am the one torn by the icy grip of abandonment. I am the waves, the ocean, the shipwreck on Your shore. I am the one on a plinth in a lone ivory tower. I am the the cherry blossoms in Spring, the Summer petals, and the … Continue reading Revelation
BY VALENTYNA HOLLOWAY Slowly the arm of Winter creeps along the grass, the frosted flowers shivering in the chill before the powdered coloured dawn. The trees begin to dance, their bareness showing their beauty as the leaves applaud from the ground. The season on display, lights entwining needle-filled branches as red berries dot their bows. The world rushing into darkness as if it is … Continue reading Existential Crisis
BY VALENTYNA HOLLOWAY Soft kisses drawn across still quaking flesh, heartbeats tangled in the subsiding pulse of passion. (closer) This is the after of our before. Hands slipping together, fingertips mingling like salt water and the shore as the slowing waves bring murmured declarations of love. (inhale) This is the after of our before. Legs slowly moving, hips merged rising and falling in the quivering … Continue reading This is the After of Our Before
BY CAPTAIN JACK I, Came from a dream, About Us. We were a scene from a riotous assembly, The envy, Of all we surveyed. We played Without fuss We even took the night bus… You and I Laughing and rolling like drunken teens Painted screams on the stars for eternity, A brief maternity And you and me Were we. I was empty without … Continue reading From Jack to Valentyna
