I’m delighted to announce that my new poetry collection, Living on a Blue Marble, is coming soon. The book is being published by Ralph Wessman at Walleah Press in Tasmania, with cover artwork by Ron C. Moss.

Living on a Blue Marble explores this world of nature and human endeavour. Using vivid images, the poems frequently draw on artistic movements such as modernism, cubism, expressionism and magic realism. The references to influential artworks, historical events and fundamental human emotions give the collection a timeless and enduring character.

I’ll let you know when the book is available. In the meantime, here’s a poem from Living on a Blue Marble that combines a number of the book’s key elements: nature, art and the human mindset.

On Love . . .

I can love the cold
stillness of that moment
at dawn when the day and I
seep into each other
like watercolour willows
in an oriental painting.
I can love the warm
embrace of ocean waves
as they break and foam
softly on the sand
like the scalloping of a shawl
drawn across my shoulder.
A breath of wind
can colour my silence.
I can love alone.

Gregory Piko