opal tears threaded

new poetry, monthly writing competition

hum of bedrock beneath the palms. dreams wrapped in sediment whisper. a trail of opal tears threaded. i have entered the belly of the mountain where mica glistens like a familiar galaxy, its contours matched to my bones. all the world has paused. there is nowhere but here. the centre holds. i am a dust mote in its embrace. Saraswati Nagpal

in a whirlwind of movement, i contemplate stillness. spring has waltzed in with creative ideas that dazzle in the light, and i gather these greedily and long to retreat to the quiet of the cave, in the shadows, where a work is knitted to life.

today, the winged muse monthly writing competition opens with a new prompt and details that you can find further down in the newsletter. but first, today’s featured poet, William Doreski deftly explores what lies on the other side of day in his surreal poem “Night-Demons”, inspired by Hinterland, and paired with Kristof Ribuf’s atmospheric art.

NIGHT-DEMONS
William Doreski

The wind blowing from the stars
brings night-demons to settle
in the trees and influence dreams.
At dawn I remember nothing
but a gray wall separating me
from a café full of dead friends
resurrected just to cheer me.

You report a clutch of characters
fresh from a Fellini movie-- 
jugglers, mimes, acrobats, clowns,
and a handsome, well-dressed man
you would never mistake for me.

The night-demons did their job.
We’re restless and plot our day
on a bell curve leading nowhere.
The stars are laughing in the sky.
If we could see them in daylight
they would hide their cosmic humor
in draperies of thick black matter.

If I were a less temperate man 
I’d shoo the demons from the trees.
But they also disappear in daylight, 
the quartz of their eyes a last glitter
too faint on which to focus.

Kristof Ribus, Le Voyageur Dévoyé

the winged muse monthly competition

our monthly muse for April comes from French visual artist Ise Cellier whose favourite medium is thread, scraps of fabric, tea bags and ancient relics with which she crafts a unique folklore that dreams of becoming universal.

this month’s muse piece by Ise is The Weeping Man, also seen in our Portrait issue.

Ise Cellier, The Weeping Man

submissions for this month’s competition opens today! (submissions are free!)

here are the guidelines:

· write a piece in response to this image, it can be poetry, prose or micro fiction

· the poetry should be no more than 30 lines, the prose and micro fiction no more than 300 words

· please send us your writing to thewingedmoonmagazine@gmail.com along with your social media handles (if any)

· submissions are open until April 23

· we will announce our winners on Instagram and publish a curated micro magazine on April 30, here on substack

· the overall winner each month will be given a paid subscription to The Winged Moon substack for three months

· please do not share your writing until after the winners have been announced

we warmly invite you all to send in your carefully crafted work if the muse calls to speak through you. we can’t wait to read it! you can read the winning pieces from last month’s competition here.

we also encourage you to consider a paid membership to this substack newsletter, which brings with it an array of more beauty each month:

· a monthly newsletter with writing by our EIC Jai-Michelle.

· a monthly list of journals to submit to, recommended by each of our editors

· a monthly write-along session hosted by Jai-Michelle

· a book-club gathering every three months

… all for 5 euros a month. enjoy your first (free) experience of it here…

we’d love to have you share and join in our community in ways that inspire you.

thank you for reading. until next week…

Saraswati and Jai-Michelle

read about today’s featured poet and artist here:

William Doreski has taught at several colleges and universities. He has published three critical studies, a textbook, and several collections of poetry. His most recent book is Cloud Mountain (2024).  His essays, poetry, fiction, and reviews have appeared in many journals, including Yale Review, Massachusetts Review, Antioch Review, Ploughshares, Agni, and many others. He is a regular poetry reviewer for Harvard Review.

Kristof Ribus lives and works in Wespelaar and Brussels, Belgium. His work is poetic. Sometimes disarmingly recognisable, sometimes mysterious and elusive. Often, words or sentences are an inseparable and equal part of his visual work. His daily drawing discipline undulates on language and coincidence. What he draws is what he picks up and, sometimes much later and unconsciously, puts down again. Not literally, but intuitively and associatively. Besides his own practice, he collaborates on visual work with Siska Vastesaeger. They recently published their first children's book ‘Albert the nester’ (‘Albert de nestelaar’, Pelckmans Publishers).