Poem of the month

Each month the two FSP editors select a poem, from those read throughout that month, as the poem of the month. A laminated copy of the poem is awarded to the poet at the next FSP City meeting. This is peer recognition of a poem of high quality.

Poems of the Month – April 2026 – Ben Adams & Veronica Cookson

The Poems of the Month for April 2026, selected by 2026 Anthology editors Elizabeth Salna and Erica Jolly, are flattop by Ben Adams and Modern Slant on an Old Story by Veronica Cookson. The commended poems are Swallowtail Butterfly by Kylie Dinning, Broken News by Billy-Jack Johnson, Evelyn, Little Evelyn by Geoff Johnson and Travelling North by Rob McKinnon.

flattop
Ben Adams

the instinct of fire is
conflagration

filling space like a man who won’t stop talking
about not getting caught in groupthink
how he doesn’t see empathy as a virtue
and that he formulated these ideas
after reading Orwell, Huxley, Peterson
and Plato
speaking to people
and dating a woman
whose worldview was based on emotions

he hates cops
for all the wrong reasons

considers multiculturalism impossible
from a logical standpoint
and says educated white people think BBQs and backyard cricket
are analogous with white supremacy
slight hyperbole, he admits
but not far from the mark

he is an exothermic process
becoming everything
replacing air with heat, the still surface
of a flattop grill or timber frame
a hanging tent flap, or skin
with crackling singe and melt

he’s forgotten to flip the snags again

the way embers smoulder
kindling catches love like a spark
follows algorithmic oxygen
to inhale it like hate, like something
his body wants
the world is a many-faced god

and he’s forgotten to check the steaks
as we stand away in the smokers’ corner
discussing the sociology of flame

as weapon of war, the worst way to die
he talks about diesel engines
speeding fines and the family court
religion as culture
and ritual, a warm hearth
he remembers

I mention the witches they burned

tell him that
combustion doesn’t care
what it consumes

and violence only becomes visible
at the ignition point

Modern Slant on an Old Story
Veronica Cookson

The original
Antonio, Merchant of Venice, Act 1, Scene 1

‘In sooth, I know not why I am so sad.… Click for more

Poem of the Month – March 2026 – Pat Lee

The Poem of the Month for March 2026, selected by 2026 Anthology editors Elizabeth Salna and Erica Jolly, is The Bridge by Pat Lee. The commended poems are A Night Off by Steve Evans, Death Dialogue by Rob Ferris, The Future by Peter Goers and Burden by Fred Willett.

The Bridge
Pat Lee

Tooleybuc, River Murray, NSW/Vic border

Beside the bridge sits a little park,
tree’d with gums, grassed in green.
From trim front gardens across the road,
summer roses stand and watch —
People come, people go over the river’s bounteous flow.

Here, there was a slight, neat man,
I cannot say how old or young,
with deep tanned face and short black hair.… Click for more

Poem of the Month – February 2026 – Fred Willett

The Poem of the Month for February 2026, selected by 2026 Anthology editors Elizabeth Salna and Erica Jolly, is Semaphore Jetty by Fred Willett. The commended poems are Escape by Nigel Ford, Some thoughts of somebody who hasn’t sailed solo around the world by Bruce Greenhalgh, The Doc Said by Susan O’Brien and Final crossing by Valerie Volk.

Semaphore Jetty
Fred Willett

Mum died
She’d gone years before, of course
An empty husk
A house long deserted. No one inside

We took her ashes to Semaphore Jetty on a crystal day
Ice wind. Kites flying
Kids on the carousel
And let her go gently into the turtle water
To start her next journey

Escape
Nigel Ford

With the staccato fire of the machine guns overhead
and the rumbling of heavy artillery in the distance
I bunker down prepared to ride out the storm
as flashes of brilliant light blind me through my window
but despite this cacophony of violence surrounding me
far removed from the company of family in our old home
I am at peace with the situation I find myself in
My fingers kneading the armrests of my recliner
I listen to the rain on the tin roof of my new house
the music of my own song
an anthem to new found independence
and escape from their quarrels

Some thoughts of somebody who hasn’t sailed solo around the world
Bruce Greenhalgh

I could fly to Rome;
I won’t.… Click for more

Poem of the Month – December 2025 – Steve Evans

The Poem of the Month for December 2025, selected by 2025 Anthology editors Val Braendler and Ben Adams, is North Yelta by Steve Evans. The commended poems are Jacaranda, Advent’s flower by Dawn Colsey, Big-hearted  Joe by Elizabeth Salna and Slammed by Jill Wherry.

North Yelta
Steve Evans

Before you wake
I sit at the table in the derelict house
that was your home
and watch the grey feathered sky.

If we could dismantle it,
we would take away the bed
on which you sleep a last time,
that bed you lay on first at ten
and have brought me to
at thirty five.… Click for more

Poem of the Month – November 2025 – Geoff Aitken

The Poem of the Month for November 2025, selected by 2025 Anthology editors Val Braendler and Ben Adams, is gratis is not a liveable wage by Geoff Aitken. The commended poems are 15 seconds by Mandy McPeake, Yellow Moon by Maxine Platt and Semaphore 2025 by Mike Ladd.

gratis is not a liveable wage
Geoff Aitken

he was unable to discuss
additional conditions
over the phone.

did say
caterers would be paid

so too the emcee.

the equipment
leased

and the premises
hired

while he as organiser
warranted a token fee.

my reputation
of course, acknowledged

and writing promoted,
if i agreed to terms.… Click for more

Poem of the Month – October 2025 – Kathryn von Bergen

The Poem of the Month for October 2025, selected by 2025 Anthology editors Val Braendler and Ben Adams, is Penguin Blood by Kathryn von Bergen. The commended poems are Mathematician’s Oath to the Infinite by Claudia Raddatz, Half Light by Fred Willet and Pebble Hunt at Aldinga Beach by Martha Landman.

Penguin Blood
Kathryn von Bergen

Now
late in my life,
a discovery
resonant with wonder,
recalibrating my sense of self:

1940 –
University of Adelaide
Kerr, Pfeiffer, Dutton, Harris
poets avant-garde
birthing Angry Penguins
from ashes of Phoenix –
the journal, a movement
in those heady days
of Modernism.… Click for more

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