We are excited to announce our third Poet-in-Residence, PS Conway! He is a prolific writer who posts his poems on his website, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter). Last year, we invited him to submit his poems to The Fictional Café. We enjoyed them so much; we nominated him for a Pushcart Prize.
His poetry collection, Echoes Lost in Stars: Poems by PS Conway, was published in March. It is his first solo publication and hit Amazon No.1 Top New Release three times in its first three weeks of release. He was also kind enough to give us a few poems from his book, which you can read down below.
Please join us in wishing PS a successful residency!
A Note from PS:
I am so humbled to become a member of the talented Fictional Café family. There is something incredibly validating in being chosen. And I do not take this honor lightly. Over the next two years, I hope to not only offer the intimacy of self-expression through my own poetry, but also help discover other poetic talent seeking an audience to communicate their thoughts and feelings to a wider audience.
sunset autumn forest
i search for you, my love,
in a sunset autumn forest
for i know
in my soul
this is where your spirit resides
here midst fading dappled light
midst soft colors of passing
i hear laughter
faint like a prayer
like the twinkling of a stream
here midst the sloe
of an unknown transmutation
between wood
between heaven
in the quiet, there is love
here midst such fragility
midst such butterfly fluttering
wisps of groundfog
encircle me
and i know my search has ended
Jesus and diabetic candy
not sure at age thirteen
if the irony was yet lost on me
that we ate lamb with mint jelly
every Sunday after mass
my grandparents’ apartment
hosted our clan each week
where we sat on the davenport – not a sofa!
and their candy was for diabetics
it left a sticky taste
of orange baby aspirin in our mouths
later we knew we ate too much of it
hovering o’er cool porcelain
giggling at our wet secret sounds
my grandparents’ apartment
where we arrived filled body and soul
with Jesus Christ
dressed in our Sunday best
to impress the priest or fellow penitents
eyes searching the sun after church
to see if the Son of God
the Lamb of God
was watching through that lambent light
which brings us to the irony
that we had already consumed the lamb at mass
and now we needed to eat it… again?
this platen of dead baby sheep
smothered in mint jelly
with our grandparents crammed ‘round a table
(never the davenport)
while all the while our bellies were already full
with Jesus
and diabetic candy
the birds are all dead
the birds are all dead
the newfound silence of early night
in all its starless mourning
lacks its wonted soundtrack
the world’s left filled with scratchy things
some leaves skittering like insect hordes
‘long the littered boardwalk
the carousel, ochre lit and wobbly,
repeats its tinny din
of dissonant organ dirges
revealing the sunset, stark and ugly,
like a bruise on the face of love
to recall a kiss midst birdsong
where time was lost to un-knowing
a nightingale from a lark
to endure such bliss from dusk ‘til dawn
then watch you take the hand of Keats
and go where i could not follow
could not swallow in the hollow
of a sterile flatline tone
the birds are all dead
and the silence is scurrilous and profane
an obloquy denouncing beauty
in the absence of their joy
time and laundry
in grandma’s attic
she would hang the wash
to dry in winter
midst the whispered wisdoms
earned through loneliness
the creases in her hands
earned from time and laundry
humming sweet songs
soft to herself
awash in apricity
she found peace
dancing cheek to cheek
with grandpa’s ghost
midst the pale sunlight
and dappled dust motes
who still remembered
the continuity of love
You can purchase PS’s book and contact him at:
Website https://poetrybyps.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/PSConwayPoet
Twitter https://twitter.com/ps_conway
IG https://www.instagram.com/ps.conway/
Threads https://www.threads.net/@ps.conway
TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@p.s.conway
PS Conway returned to poetry after a long hiatus from writing. Since the beginning of the Covid lockdown, his words have attracted an ardent community of readers, online and in print. A Pushcart Nominee, PS has now published over forty poems across four online literary journals and fifteen poetry anthologies, one of which was an Amazon Best Seller. Echoes Lost in Stars, his first poetry book of exclusively his own work, hit No.1 Top New Release on Amazon three times in its first two weeks. He also serves as the 2024-25 Poet-in-Residence for the online literary journal, The Fictional Café. PS finds fascination in language birthed from dark, literate, and emotive places. In his free time, he fancies himself a rockstar, jamming on his drum kit, and a wannabe sommelier, savoring succulent red wines with his wife Susan and their two amazing adult daughters.
