Bethany Rivers is widely published in the UK and USA. Click the links below to buy her pamphlet or sample any of the single poems published in online poetry and literary magazines.
POETRY PAMPHLET FROM INDIGO DREAMS PUBLISHING, CALLED OFF THE WALL, OUT NOW!
Below are samples of the poems performed by Bethany Rivers.
Review of ‘Off the wall’: The Pre-Raphaelite Woman: Art & Poetry
Released summer 2016
http://www.indigodreams.co.uk/bethany-rivers/4592595600
Violets – withered all when my father died
Three drops from a cauldron, Issue 18, August 2017
https://threedropspoetry.co.uk/2017/08/23/three-drops-from-a-cauldron-issue-18-august-2017/
Yorkshire Anthology – Released August 2017
Three poems at Clear Poetry:
Poem called ‘The Malvern Hills’ (about coming home, accepting a new home) in
‘The Everyday Poet’, Editor Deborah Alma (Emergency Poet)
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-everyday-poet/deborah-alma/978178243
Poem called ‘At Seventeen’, Silver Birch Press, Feb 2017
Photo ‘Heart Break’, by Angela Chaney, Prints available at fineartamerica.com
Hygge poem: ‘white fire’ at Angela Topping’s Blog on Hygge poems, Jan 2017
https://angelatopping.wordpress.com/2017/01/26/hygge-feature-17-coming-in-from-the-cold-and-dark/
Poems celebrating ‘Love & Ensuing Madness’ at Rat’s Ass Review, Jan 2017:
http://ratsassreview.net/?page_id=1070
Art work: ‘One Heart’ by Susan Solomon
Poem from the domestic front:
‘deep cut’ – Clear Poetry Anthology 2016 – out from beginning of Jan 2017
https://clearpoetry.wordpress.com/anthology-2016/
Poem about the friendliness of arachnids:
‘Spider’ – Fair Acre Press e-book, February 2016
http://fairacrepress.co.uk/shop/poetry-on-spiders-ebook/
Poem about a hospital stay and the parent leaves:
‘Without Goodbyes’ – Ink Sweat & Tears, 25th April 2015
http://www.inksweatandtears.co.uk/pages/?s=bethany+rivers
Poem about inner-stillness: ‘deep ear’ – The Ofi Press, Issue 45
http://www.ofipress.com/riversbethany.htm
Political protest poems:
‘Peace-Seeker’ & ‘Behind Closed Doors’ – I am not a silent poet, 6th March 2016
‘Breaking News’, 11th Sept 2016
https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/2016/03/06/peace-seeker-by-bethany-rivers/
https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/2016/03/06/behind-closed-doors-by-bethany-rivers/
Magical winter poem: ‘Snow Prayer’ – Three Drops from a Cauldron, 17th December 2015
Poems: ‘What Lies Behind’ & ‘Treasure Hunt’ – Amygdala (USA)
https://amygdalalitmag.wordpress.com/issue-2/what-lies-behind/
https://amygdalalitmag.wordpress.com/issue-2/treasure-hunt/
‘Raw Edges’ – Poems to Survive in – Fat Damsel, April 2016
https://thefatdamsel.wordpress.com/issue-8/
Poem about loss of a parent: ‘Message of a Name’ – Silver Birch Press, Nov 2016
The poem below was published by Wenlock Poetry Festival as part of their Valentine’s Celebration in 2015:
In Silhouette
the candle in the centre of the windowsill
flickers its flame forwards
almost touching
its reflection
her shadow
greets his shadow
like two willows
lacing a brook
fairy lights frame
the window
blink blink
room holds its breath
fire hesitates
before its next crackle
wind’s howl drops
to a low moan
table and chairs feel
permeable
like liquid or air
her breath
now
touching his
heat shimmers
between lips
phone resolute stays silent
front door is busy
repelling visitors
or the thought of them
her eyes close
like a feather falling
his eyes close
like a camera shutter
miniature carriage clock
on its mantelpiece
reflected in a fairy
light window
stops
Bethany Rivers
The poem below was published by Wenlock Poetry Festival as part of their 2014 Advent Calendar:
Solstice
There’s a song within you
that’s waiting to be heard.
The universe expands
the breath within your lungs.
The lake with no boats is still
anticipating the rise of the sun
and the season to open. Through
the thickets of winter, and the lattice
hedges of scribble, beyond
the luminescence of snow-berries
against a grey-billowing sky,
the buds are growing deeper
on the horse chestnut tree,
the ash is preparing for future keys,
we return to sing the re-birth of the sun.
Bethany Rivers
Further poems can be found in Envoi (Issue 171), Bare Fiction (Issue 2), Obsessed with Pipework, Sarasvati (Issue 40), several issues of Blithe Spirit and many other magazines and anthologies.