.
[ 4 poems from Brillig ]
.
Mooned
.
Moon at my window wants to come in.
She has a beautiful black gown,
silky dark tresses gemmed with stars.
Moon-faced and pale with longing
she whispers with the tide
that slides up silent estuaries
.
I’m lonely up here all by myself.
Your astros came but wouldn’t play.
Frightened of my beauty they flew away.
.
What will I tell her, that my falling
silver hairs are mooncoins,
that my gray unkept robe is wolfskin
.
just right for me to howl her praises?
But, oh, she’s wise to me, too many
faded lovers already to take another on.
.
She slides a fan of cloud over her eyes
but just before, she winks at me.
Hey, poet, stay open for me another night.
.
Bradley R. Strahan
from Brillig, Winter/Spring 2026. Created by Deborah Doolittle.
.
❀ ❀ ❀
.
An Elegance of Swans
.
The predawn green-grown lawn filled with swans,
snow-soft swells or so they seemed. Subtle
as first fall of frost, wings wind-weathered,
the flock massed on the grass. Moon-tethered,
they began to glow. Feathers supple,
at home here as if they’d never flown.
.
On this bright cold night,
one goose across the full moon.
Are we both alone?
.
Paul Jones
from Brillig, Winter/Spring 2026. Created by Deborah Doolittle.
.
.
❀ ❀ ❀
.
Interior Gear
.
Travel before light.
Keep maps
of trails to overlooks
palm-sized, folded,
creases smoke-blackened.
.
By firelight,
get around to writing
those letters to people
who like you,
but you refused to believe.
.
Tell them absolute darkness
does not exist.
Everything moves.
Our bodies give off
infinitesimal radiation.
.
Rob Merritt
from Brillig, Winter/Spring 2026. Created by Deborah Doolittle.
.
❀ ❀ ❀
.
cloudbound
.
an imagined collaboration of Lafcadio Hearn and Matt Snyder
.
the place
.
business trip
the departures board lists
my hometown
.
of the issuing clouds . . .
.
alma mater
I chat up the beggar
about his t-shirt
.
graves on a mountain
.
stones
in the fog
in the potter’s field
.
Matt Snyder
from Brillig, Winter/Spring 2026. Created by Deborah Doolittle.
.
.
❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀
.
Brillig is created twice a year by Deborah Doolittle. Not only does she gather the poets and poems into a small universe where the lines can speak each other from dream into reality, but Deborah also prints and cuts and folds and glues to fabricate each small booklet that will become that season’s offering of Brillig. Each edition is a different theme, each episode is a different style of small hand-crafted booklet. Each creation of wordly imagery also joins with artistic imagery – woodcut, line drawing, collage – to unfold into the final amazing artifact within your hands. Marvelous!
.
❁
.
Hold a limited edition copy of Brillig in you own hands by using this order form. And consider submitting your own poetry for consideration: 3-5 previously unpublished poems, any subject, any style, 20 lines or fewer. Submit as a single .DOC attachment to brillig.mlm@gmail.com, or mail to BRILLIG: a micro lit mag / 103 Jean Circle / Jacksonville, NC 28540. Include a 3-4 sentence bio and postal address. And visit this earlier post featuring Brillig.
.
.
.
❁
.
Additional poetry at Verse and Image by:
.
Bradley Strahan
. .
Paul Jones
.
Matt Snyder
.
.
❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀
.
Thank you for visiting Verse and Image:
. . . . . every Friday I present one or two poems I’ve read this week that particularly speak to me;
. . . . . some Saturdays I present one or two poems submitted by YOU, my readers.
.
If you would like to offer a poem for consideration, either by a favorite author or your own work, please view these GUIDELINES for Saturday Readers Share:
.
.
If you would like to receive an email each time a post appears, please SUBSCRIBE to Verse and Image using the button on the Home Page.
.
If you have a hard time finding the SUBSCRIBE button on this WordPress site, you can send me your email address and I will add you to the subscriber list. Send your request to
.
COMMENTS@GRIFFINPOETRY.COM
.
Thanks again for joining the conversation.
.
– Bill
.
.
V E R S E and I M A G E 
[…] About/Submit […]