Shards - The 1 Poem Podcast of Cameron Semmens

What's at the centre of a ring? A suite of 2 poems. Poem 1: 'A poem with late night whiskey on an anniversary' by Cameron Semmens. Music: 'He died for all of us' by Hildur Guðnadóttir & Rutger Hoedemaekers from the album: Trapped (Original Television Series Soundtrack). Poem 2. 'A poem with a hint of champagne on a wedding day' by Cameron Semmens. Music: 'I remember everything' by Hildur Guðnadóttir & Rutger Hoedemaekers from the album: Trapped (Original Television Series Soundtrack).

from my new book...

Poem: 'Body under a sheet' written and read by Cameron Semmens. Additional reading by Ramak Bamzar. Music: 'Ascent' by Hildur Guðnadóttir from the album 'Without Sinking'. Image: Close-up of 'Scene 3' from the photography series 'Pro Femina' by Ramak Bamzar, 2023.

Inspiration poetic heartbreak hope love

Poem from Cam... a chat with Dan. From the book ‘A Brief History of Time With Cake’, Cam shares his poem about self-expression, connection and vulnerability: ‘The Asteroid Theory for The Extinction of Despair’.

Spoken words... if you're stressed... here's an idea... Poem written and spoken by Cameron Semmens

from the book: Upside Drowning

27... Two poems for the one I love by Cameron Semmens

Cam memorialising in a poem the very first time he heard a poem spoken in Persian back in late 2019 ... it was shared by a fascinating, arty woman he'd just met ... she goes by the name of Ramak! 'The Spring and The Forest'  by Cameron Semmens. Music : ‘Love her and she will watch over you’ by Luke Pittman. Poem in Farsi in the background: 'Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season’ by Forough Farrokhzad.

from the book 'Upside Drowning

Curious fragments of memory... a poem from the book Upside Drowning - poems from the edge of the ocean by Cameron Semmens.

Like a wave veiled with spray... recorded live by the beach, 2021 From the book Upside Drowning – poems by edge of the ocean by Cameron Semmens

Poem: Rapid 'I' Movement Towards You. Initial sound-effect: Spike Mason. Background organ: Jared Haschek. Orchestral piece beneath the poem: Luke Pittman.

Shards - 21 - Petalled Pillows And Thorny Sheets (Parts 1 And 2) Thank you to Spike Mason for the new title sound effects. Thank you Rod Gear for the background tracks to the poems.

In The Mountains ... by Cameron Semmens

by Cameron Semmens

Poem by Cameron Semmens Translation by Ramak Bamzar Music by Jared Haschek

Poem by Cameron Semmens Translation by Ramak Bamzar ... also check out: The Persian and The Poet for more of the like! Theme music : Jared Haschek Poem music : Spike Mason

Trees and The Taste of Shadow When a tree falls how can its shadow stand? And yet in the forest behind our eyes shadows stretch far into the future. Even when the tree has long since fallen and rotted and returned to the fecund, hungry soil of history; even when the sun, with its golden tongue, is licking the ridges of mountains memories are longer than shadows. And the taste of darkness is a sharp, metallic tang that can, with enough swings, cut right through the most deep-rooted loves and thick-trunked family. In shadow, bare dirt pushes back the greener grass. In shadow, consoling moss softens the edges. But what does this mean for the forest behind our eyes? You tell me for once! I’m sick of walking these paths, pulling answers from trees like cicada shells. Tell me – this shadow these trees what does it all mean?

Today I take my hunchbacked heart for a walk in cathedrals of trees. And each step off-road, off-grid, on dirt, returns me to an earlier me – to a memory of milk teeth smiles and always look up. And with each step, on this day (I wish it always felt like this), my thoughts become more like dragonflies; and my muscles more like winter bees; and slowly the skin of my civilised self hardens and sheds – a cicada shell; and suddenly, from the outside, I can see the useless husk it was – so fragile and constrictive. And as I keep walking further into the forest all my straight lines begin to warp and twist like wattle branches; and all my black-and-whites are softened into shades of green; and all my human grandness shrivels and cowers beneath a towering grove of mountain ashes. Fecund, meandering, I grow into my youth like a tree re-entering the seed. I am simpled; trimmed back to a beautiful potential. I know, in many ways, this cannot last; but I also know this moment is growing roots; this moment is digging in deep; this moment is going to sprout words and flower into poetry – I can see the lines, like leaves, already forming: Today I take my hunchbacked heart for a walk in cathedrals of trees...