first flight across morning

introducing our new co-editor, open art submission

geese burst across the morning, their voices eclipsing the sleepy village with unknowable urgency. i am polar, diametrical like the buzzard who makes no sound but for the faint murmur of wing. her face casts a shadow over me, over the white heron fervently trying to hide inside and escape. my own body opens up like tiny seed pouches, littering the ground with a winter song. birds of winter morning Jai Michelle Louissen

PHOTOGRAPHY ANNI RANNISTO, FIRST SEEN IN THE WINGED MOON PASSAGE

sending all of you hearty greetings for the coming seasons. here at the winged moon, we are opening our wings to a new name kin @ the winged moon and a new co-editor, Saraswati Nagpal. i have been long enamoured with her exquisite writing and can say i am so thrilled she has agreed to co-edit our free subscription, helping me stitch all the writing, art and interviews in her own inimitable mien. i have asked her to reveal a little about who she is as a writer…

“it is an honour to belong to kin, this warm community born of Jai Michelle’s love and vision for the winged moon. I grew up on a bridge between the East and the West, my childhood bright with myth and ritual, with Indian classical arts of music and dance, with tomes of stories and poetry. words were always and ever magic. over the years, I’ve lived in the Middle East, the USA, South Africa, India, and taught a range of arts: from literature to yoga, retold Indian myths in the female voice, performed as musician and dancer. long years as a quiet poet have blossomed into poetry in publications like The Atlantic, Atlanta Review, Dust, Acropolis, Black Bough and SAND, and my first poetry collection forthcoming with Black Bough this year.

Saraswati is the name of an ancient river on whose banks early civilisations once flourished. she is goddess of words, art, creativity, and I hope that with the blessings of such a muse, I can continue to weave beauty with Jai Michelle in this weekly magazine.”

and together we open up to you a little of what to expect at kin @ the winged moon in 2025, we’ll be bringing you luminous poetry, writing and interviews. our monthly poetry competition “the winged muse” resumes in the first week of February. winner receive a 3 month complimentary paid subscription. our first winner, is in fact Saraswati, here is her winning poem, ‘ORISON FOR THE LOST’

ORISON FOR THE LOST
Saraswati Nagpal 


Weigh me in the vault of unspoken dreams.
My lament is crimson, tasselled with rue.

I invoke feathered flight, a wilderness of stars,
a lapis terrain’s salted cry to be mapped.

At the threshold of Cimmerian self,
Time cedes her onyx realm.

This sable song is my darkling river
to the Night before night was born.

I scry my fate in canny eyes,
sentinel diamonds doused in ink.

Allow me passage. Wing-blessed,
I will be thrice found.

we are also inviting our print contributing editors, Victoria Spires, Marcelle Newbold and Vikki C to curate two newsletters with their pick of the writing. look out next month for their first micro magazine.

we’re also inviting submissions of art for kin at the winged moon. send us five pieces alongside your personal bio by Jan 31st at thewingedmoonmagazine@gmail.com.

and, if you are inclined, we invite you to become a paid member and experience the full range of what we offer at the winged moon. A paid subscription brings you:

a curated shortlist of submission opportunities from our editors
a monthly write-along session
a quarterly (once-in-three-months) book club gathering beginning in March 2025. with the first book ‘the reindeer people’ by Megan Lindholm.

here’s a synopsis:

Living on the outskirts of the tribe Tillu was happy spending her time tending her strange, slow dreamy child Kerlew and comunning with the spirits to heal the sick and bring blessing on new births.
However Carp, the Shaman, an ugly wizened old man whose magic smelled foul to Tillu desired both mother and child. Tillu knew Carp’s magic would steal her son and her soul. Death waited in the snows of the Tundra, but Tillu knew which she would prefer…

next week, i’ll be sharing poetry inspired our much-awaited print journal HINTERLAND, out in the world via Amazon on January 22. view its mesmerising cover here in a promo created to mark our release.

thank you for being a part of our community, for witnessing my first flight with the winged moon.

Saraswati and Jai Michelle