New Poetry from Susan Haldane!

As Above, So Below

Winner of Pulp Literature’s Magpie Award for Poetry, Susan Haldane‘s ‘A Short History of Space Travel’ takes the reader to dizzying new realms — to the stars and into ourselves.

Of ‘A Short History of Space Travel’, appearing in Issue 24, Autumn 2019, judge Renée Sarojini Saklikar tells us: Everything works in this finely wrought poem. It is filled with metaphorical layers and weaves together myth, space, and gorgeous imagery.

We are delighted to share with you another of Susan’s marvelous — and sky-high — poems, which she has kindly gifted us here.

Of this new piece, Susan tells us: I came across the short documentary Ten-Meter Tower and was captivated. It reflects so perfectly our fear, hesitation, uncertainty, and ability to overcome these … or not. Why do we put ourselves through all this? That inner compulsion; where does it come from?

Ten-Metre Tower

by Susan Haldane

(After the documentary Ten Meter Tower, 2016)

It’s not                Archangel Gabe 
              we aim to emulate 
                                           when we haul our bulk
hand over hand                             up ladder to platform.

When                 weak-kneed       we straighten 
and look
                            down gasping, it’s that               other
                            angel, the one
who fell,                          we wish
to know better.

We dare              ourselves, double-dog dare,     shivering
               there, drawn                    to the edge and tempted
to turn. We lust to feel                               the fall,
the speed, heat                 between realms.

Step off.

You will not be borne up 

on wings of anything. 

You will know all there is 

of triumph, terror, wild joy.

Not for long. 

Here comes the water, rushing up 
to claim you one of her own.

To read ‘A Short History of Space Travel’, and for more from Issue 24, visit our bookstore!

Susan Haldane lives on a farm near the northern boundary of Algonquin Park in Ontario. Her chapbook Picking Stones is published by Gaspereau Press. Her work has appeared in a number of Canadian journals, and in the anthology Desperately Seeking Susans (Oolichan 2012). In 2019 she was thrilled to win the Magpie Award for her poem ‘A Short History of Space Travel.’ Her poem ‘Thin-Skinned’ was selected for Best Canadian Poetry 2020. Find Susan on Twitter at @haldaneford.

Opening 1 May: The Hummingbird Flash Fiction Prize!

Calling all writers: The Hummingbird Flash Fiction Prize opens 1 May.

With a top prize of $300 and publication in Pulp Literature Issue 33, Winter 2022, the Hummingbird Prize really soars!

So send us your flashiest flash, your small but mighty prose, your sweet or scrappy stories!

For details and to enter, visit the contest page.