between earth and sky

new poetry, monthly writing competition

somewhere, the world still slumbers. elsewhere, the creek’s song brightens when east is jewelled with citrine. dew-drenched birds sing of childhood’s nest, of twig and bark, a sky filigreed with branches, how a leap of courage revealed its unbroken blue. Saraswati Nagpal

in north India, we celebrated the kite-flying festival this weekend, tiny steps easing us out of winter and into spring. I find myself reaching for courage as I work on two manuscripts, thinking of how flight inspires us, how writers are often reluctant to take that leap off the branch and test our feathers of image and language.

at the winged moon, we celebrate such leaps with the winged muse writing competition which opens today with a new prompt and details that you’ll find further down in the newsletter. be sure to read all the way through!

first, this week’s poems by Emily Langford and Nikhil Harle are inspired by Hinterland and paired with Marty Colombo’s powerful artwork “Luna Prealpina” (first seen in our portrait issue). these startling poems reel you in, capture the hunger of the human spirit for earth and sky, and beauty that is unnamed. we hope you enjoy them as we did.

BOUND
Emily Langford

In a land back of,
 an ache,
   a buried loss breaks the surface
(the smell of rosemary permeates)
I consider
           does the air taste different?
as if the very last breaths taken here
we're at odds with the gossamer lungs
of a mother

a sacred place bound by a spirit-
unblemished by the folk.

but hark the gentle bustle of the brook,
where the birds have little to say for themselves
beaks prized in fish
the Wind carries a song heard only by
ears of the wood telling secrets spun
in Spider Web silk.
In the land back of, a bouquet
of delicate endings bloom from the throat
of this place.
untouched in It wildness.

Marty Colombo, “Luna Prealpina”

ST. BASILICA
Nikhil Harle

amazed, I ventured a finger to touch the statue of St. Basilica in the back of a church
only to find he was painted on the wall, shadow preserved in oil

trembling, I stepped outside and looked at the moon
waxing crescent decorated with a halo of silvery cloud
was it just paint on a cosmic canvas? la lune, cher lune —
what were the stars if not flicks of silvery paint, 
false beacons of false hope?

aghast, I sunk, craving the comfort of grass, 
only to find hazy brushstrokes, impressions of greens,
still moist with the morning’s turpentine

bereft, I peered through crumpled lids of eye, knotted lashes
at the peeling world around me, suddenly flat and infertile
and by chance, caught on the crook of your unintended gaze
pupils pooling into the missing dimension, as with the tide

laugh, you said, hidden emotion coating your lips like Vaseline
and so my shoulders shook until my cheeks were sore and wet
and the grass whispered, the moon waxed
and St. Basilica emerged from the wall to laugh with me.

the winged muse monthly competition

our first monthly muse for 2025 comes from the award-winning artist, Valerie Hammond, known for her organic approach and deft interaction with different mediums. all of Valerie’s work hints at the dichotomy between the seen and the feelings it evokes, between the physical and the spiritual. this month’s Muse piece by Valerie is Harpy, also seen in our ancient issue.

Valerie Hammond, “Harpy”

submissions for this month’s competition opens today!

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

• submissions are open until february 19th

• we will announce our winners on Instagram and publish a curated micro magazine on february 26th, 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!

be brave, make that leap.

Saraswati

Read more about our featured poets and artist this week:

Emily Langford is a mother, wife, poet. "I have lived with chronic illness and lost my pen for a while. I love all things magic and the trees speak to me more than humans do." 

Nikhil Kiran Harle is a PhD candidate in physics at JILA/CU Boulder and an opera singer. This past season, he sang with the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company of Chicago, the University of Chicago, and was a Supplementary Chorister with the Grant Park Music Festival. Previously, he sang with Yale Opera and served as Artistic Director of the Opera Theatre of Yale College. He graduated from Yale College with a B.S. in Physics (Int.) in 2023.

Marty Colombo (they/them), is a 28 year old political psychologist. I'm from a small village in the Italian Prealps; my family is one of farmers and manual workers. I moved to the Netherlands a few years ago wishing to run away from the oppressive nature of the working class life, just to find myself working class all over again but disconnected from my people. This was when I rediscovered drawing and Italian witchcraft practices. Aside from my job, I'm an organizer for queer and working class issues and I'm a self-taught young artist.