blue skies poetry

Since early 2007, it has been my pleasure to edit blue skies poetry. I have been awed and inspired by the poetry that has appeared in my inbox over the years, and I have been privileged to share over 600 hundred of those poems with readers of this website. Out of this site grew another venture, the micro-publisher House of Blue Skies, which allowed Dymphny Dronyk and me to publish two anthologies of poetry by some of Alberta’s finest poets.

Now I have made the decision to stop accepting new submissions for blue skies poetry. Currently I am responsible for the creation of a new library in Fort Saskatchewan and must give this wonderful project my full attention.

While this website will remain live for the foreseeable future, to allow access to the archives, no new poems will be posted. I hope you will take this opportunity to look back at some earlier poems that you may have missed.

House of Blue Skies will continue its good work. If you have any questions, you can contact Dymphny Dronyk at dymphny@gmail.com.

Thank you for sharing your work with me, and for reading the magnificent poetry here.

Sincerely,
Angela Kublik

Filed under: News by akublik Date 24 August, 2011
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Dusk colours the uneven stairs.
I stand on the wooden steps and look around,
the distant sea hidden
behind ancient, towering trees.

I imagine waves
moving fishermen’s boats,
the smell of salmon and tuna
wrapped in seaweed.

Sushi restaurants abound
on the winding streets
of this port town,
tiny gems behind indigo curtains.

Now I climb
the steps two at a time.
At last, I reach the Shiogama Shrine
structures painted in crimson
disciples swing thick ropes,
ring copper bells.

I clap my hands
bend my head in prayer and
later follow the red hakama of a priestess,
fresh snowflakes powder
the hem of her swaying skirt.

White ribbons in her hands,
she ties them to a branch
gives them to the wind.

She helps me unfold my fate
and translates: Best fortune.

~ Sonia Saikaley

Sonia Saikaley has lived in Japan, where she taught English and found the solitude to write. She has also gotten lost in the alleys of Venice but found an amazing pizzeria. Now, in Ottawa, she finds herself surrounded by her big Lebanese family and amidst the chaos and joy, she writes. Her writing has been published in Still Point Arts Quarterly, Monday’s Poem, The Caterpillar Chronicles, Maple Tree Literary Supplement, the anthology Lavandería - A Mixed Load of Women, Wash, and Word, and other publications. She hopes someday to find a home for her poetry collection Turkish Delight, Montreal Winter.

Read more of Sonia Saikaley’s poetry:
- The Island School
- Foreigner’s Etiquette

Filed under: Sonia Saikaley by akublik Date 18 August, 2011
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An indigo sky pours moonbeams
over my naked body.

I soak in midnight baths,
avoid curious stares at my full breasts,
my desert dune hips, my olive skin.

The Mediterranean Sea in my bones
ripples as an unexpected body
sinks in the hot spring.
I glance at the folded skin.
Gomen nasai, a woman’s voice cracks.
She gets out quickly but I insist,
It’s okay. Please stay.

I squint and see
melted flesh grown hard with age,
the woman gives me a small smile.

Deep-green woods rise around us.
Autumn swirls the mist like leaves,
up and down,
back and forth.

I close my eyes
and beyond the trees,
whispering leaves,
Nagasaki weeps.

~ Sonia Saikaley

Sonia Saikaley has lived in Japan, where she taught English and found the solitude to write. She has also gotten lost in the alleys of Venice but found an amazing pizzeria. Now, in Ottawa, she finds herself surrounded by her big Lebanese family and amidst the chaos and joy, she writes. Her writing has been published in Still Point Arts Quarterly, Monday’s Poem, The Caterpillar Chronicles, Maple Tree Literary Supplement, the anthology Lavandería - A Mixed Load of Women, Wash, and Word, and other publications. She hopes someday to find a home for her poetry collection Turkish Delight, Montreal Winter.

Read more of Sonia Saikaley’s poetry:
- The Island School
- Foreigner’s Etiquette

Filed under: Sonia Saikaley by akublik Date 11 August, 2011
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Our life in this world
A boat rowing out to sea
leaves no trace behind.

~ Andrée Levie-Warrilow

“Poetry has been a way for me to make sense of events in my life. Published poems include 2 Honourable Mentions for poems submitted to the Dorothy Shoemaker Literary Awards Contest (chosen from entries across South Western Ontario), and a poem printed in Mozaic Magazine, published out of Durham, Ontario.”

Filed under: Andrée Levie-Warrilow by akublik Date 4 August, 2011
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and I am swooped back
to my mother’s garden
patched with sunlight:
rosemary, lavender and thyme
bee-stung with camomile

the small white flowers
of that Elizabethan herb

‘mignonette’, a name
to conjure dainty love
small secret kisses
demure eyes and smile

the dance of light
and a faint fragrance
a touch of petals
on my cheek

~ Joanna M. Weston

Joanna M. Weston has had poetry, reviews, and short stories published in anthologies and journals for twenty-five years. Her middle-reader, Those Blue Shoes, published by Clarity House Press; and poetry, A Summer Father, published by Frontenac House of Calgary.

Filed under: Joanna M. Weston by akublik Date 28 July, 2011
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