Bargaining My Soul
This poem captures the tension experienced on what Robert Frost called ‘The Road Less Travelled’. Ailsa Gillies dialogues with the soul when she takes it to auction. Continue reading Bargaining My Soul
This poem captures the tension experienced on what Robert Frost called ‘The Road Less Travelled’. Ailsa Gillies dialogues with the soul when she takes it to auction. Continue reading Bargaining My Soul
No one talks about that silent space during transformation. Where you’re ready for your new life, but not quite done with your old one. This poem captures exactly that – vulnerable, desperate…and ready. Continue reading A Plea in the Passing of Time
A lament for all those who were ever told they were ‘too soft’, ‘too sensitive’ or told to ‘toughen up’.
Ailsa Gillies uses the extended metaphor of a lamb to symbolise the predatory behaviour of the corporate world that exploit and shame vulnerabilities and kindness. Continue reading The Lamb’s Lament
‘How easy humans are to love when they’re not performing’, says Ailsa Gillies in this piece that finds reverence in the ordinary and compassion for humans when they’re the most ‘themselves’. Continue reading A Psalm from the Window
Everything in life – time, love, possessions, and experiences – are something borrowed. Ailsa Gillies explores the fleeting nature of life and the illusion of ownership. Continue reading Something Borrowed
Transformation. Death and rebirths. The duality of beauty and pain. The messiness that comes with ‘pomegranates’, the metaphor for a life rich with experience.
These are all the things that Ailsa Gillies explores in this visceral and raw piece of lyrical prose. Continue reading The Price of Pomegranates
This poem explores the eternal bond between sisters, rooted deeply in the fabric of time. It navigates the themes of unconditional love, shared history, and the interconnectedness of all life—whether through blood, roots, or stories by the fire. Continue reading Lilac & Lemon
This love poem, set in the Tuscan mountains, intertwines two cultures through the symbolism of the olive & the rose. Ailsa Gillies explores love as a journey, not a destination – a celebration of the moments between milestones and the creation that takes place when two become one. Continue reading Olives & Roses
From these intimate notes on nostalgia from her personal diary, Ailsa Gillies reflects on what happens when ‘now’ becomes ‘then’. Continue reading When ‘now’ becomes ‘then’
Ailsa Gillies tells the story of survival, adaptation, and the blurred line between man and nature in this thought-provoking poem. Like the beginning of a strange joke—a man walks into a bar—this poem unfolds in smoky corners and crowded city streets, where a mysterious figure, disguised as a man, shares their tale of loss and resilience. The ultimate punchline? Nature has a way of reminding us it’s always watching, even in the heart of the concrete jungle. Continue reading Urban Refugee