The Poem of the Month for May 2026, selected by 2026 Anthology editors Elizabeth Salna and Erica Jolly, is Fig by Murray Alfredson. The commended poems are Double Helix by Val Braendler, 18 Ways to Look at a Date by Judy Dally, blur by Rory Harris, and The Space Between by Colleen Lamshed.
Fig
Murray Alfredson
Now take the fig. Who ever knows its sweetness
flowered a thousand fold it seems, and fruited
within a stubby open stem, whoever
knows its tiny sting from milky sap
on lips and tongue, might also know that tree
has little need of core or heartwood, its stems
and branches hollow, laddered, filled with pith,
its fruit with nothing but an airy centre.
Savour, then, the fig, that wonder built
round emptiness; find meaning in each airy
moment, with neither core nor solid substance
to hold or cling to. For this he taught who sat
days long beneath that sacred heart-leaved fig-tree
to reach his ultimate wisdom. Seek no self –
Live free within the process of the moment.
Double Helix
Val Braendler
Caught in the light
of a powerful lens
two ribbons swirl and twirl
around an invisible pole
intertwining, flowing free
yet held in form
by filament threads
as if in a dance of DNA
carrying our gene patterns
to a growing embryo
a parents’ culmination
of ancestral evolution.
Then – the helix illuminates
with soul energy flowing in
once choosing this body to imbue
a history of past lives
memories, trauma, happiness
injuries and experiences
infused as if energised
by its soul planet, its sun god
its soul code, its archetype patterns
forming the true intrinsic nature
of the human spirit within.
He will seek his own truth
in spite of nature and nurture
it will be his own unique choice
to find meaning in his life
his soul DNA a catalyst
to resolve suffering, forgiveness, peace.
18 Ways to Look at a Date
Judy Dally
1 from above
2 from below
3 head on
4 with curiosity
5 with revulsion
6 with desire
7 with a view to eating it
8 with a view to stoning it
9 with a view to stuffing it
10 as a juicy fruit
11 as a middle-eastern delicacy
12 as a dried vagina
13 on your calendar
14 on your phone
15 on your partner’s arse
16 as a romantic night out
17 as a romantic night in
18 as an essential ingredient for sticky date pudding
You can
Make a date
Set a date
And cancel a date
The last may be the best option
blur
Rory Harris
for my granddaughter
At almost five
your drawings
have few straight lines
& the borders you produce blur
each page a Holy Land
a mix of colour with what’s at hand
shaping the curves to the edge
yesterday, your mother’s sister asked
do you ever say no to Ivy
The Space Between
Colleen Lamshed
Today, I felt you clearly, an unexpected gift
While chanting of compassion
“Aum Mani Padme Aum.”
It brought you to my sight.
So much more than memory
For I had not been where you were
But could see the prayer wheels spin
And could ‘see’ you standing there,
a smile upon your face.
The one that your friends wrote of
After you left this worldly place.
You looked so alive and youthful
In that city of refuge
In a country where the sacred is held profound
By all, the struggling masses too.
I could ‘see’ you with the children
their hearts open wide
and helping refugees learn English
experiences held deeply in you.
I am grateful for the remembering,
It no longer breaks my heart.
But I wear the Aum your hands touched
daily; close to my heart.
I could feel your presence so clearly
In that meditative state
Even though you’ve long been gone,
Longer than you lived.
The sacred chant brought with it
the lifting of the veil,
a gift of love; connection
in an unexpected way.
For a time, no separation
between this bounded life
and where your Spirit lives.