Bing Wu (Fire Horse)

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedOut of the hazy billows of chaos:
Thundering gallop, thundering gallop -
Infernal pony, riding the ages,
Out of the furnace, into the gallop.

Soot is left boldly where he has trodden
He is the master, thundering faster.
Over the grasses, green into ashes,
Hear now the gallop, thundering gallop!

Fiery visage in the bleak passage,
Thundering gallop, blundering gallop -
Cold is the stirrup lacking a rider...

Still he goes onward, on with the aeon,
On with a blazing, hungering gallop -
Praise to the men who master its rhythm:
Master that flaming, thundering gallop...

Bing Wu (Fire Horse) ~ by Tom Shaw

Today marks the beginning of the Fire Horse year in the Chinese calendar; a calendar intimately linked with natural lunar cycles, as opposed to the somewhat arbitrary nature of the Gregorian calendar most of us will be familiar with.

The Fire Horse year is an invitation towards discernment and decisive action - about moving forward with conviction. It is about taking bold action in support of our freedom and independence… and with that, its believed to be a challenging year. It can feel like the rest of the world is “charging ahead” in its drive for progress, making changes and developing while we may feel we’re falling behind. But, as individuals, we can harness the energy of the Fire Horse year to help us break out of old patterns that are keeping us stuck, allowing us to grow into more heart-led callings. It is a time for establishing new routines, so that when the “excitement” of the next-best-thing wears out, we can still carry ourselves through to see our ideas through to completion. All of this went into inspiring the poem that I’m sharing with you here.

Today is also the day I deliver a talk on how poetry helps us realign with our soul essence and step into our innate sovereignty at Anarchapulco. One of the main messages of my talk is that you don’t need the permission of others to be your most genuine - something very much in-line with the Fire Horse year. I won’t quite have delivered my talk by the time this piece reaches you. If you’d like to watch my talk, you can check out the livestream over at anarchapulco.com - or get lifetime replays at a discounted rate by using my code MASTERYOURWORD.

My talk here marks the start of a series of live poetic offerings, both in-person and online, ranging from interactive talks to live poetic meditations and integrative writing circles. It only occurred to me during the creation of this piece that my plans very much lean into the energy of the Fire Horse year, without me initially being consciously aware of it. This is a year for me to be all-in in bringing poetic healing to those who need it, and not have it be secondary to another work commitment or collaboration. I’m not pursuing projects because they are expedient for some objective measure; I’m doing them because the opportunity to guide others in their poetic emancipation genuinely excites me - and I am honoured that I get to be here at this time to do this work with people.

I know these spaces - both at other festivals, as well as direct online and in-person offerings - will be some of the most transformative yet. You can keep track of my upcoming live appearances at the Events page over at tom-shaw.uk - or use the button below to go straight there. I’d love to have you join me there.

Thank you for making time to read this piece and for taking interest in my work. Let me know what you make of it by leaving me a comment:

I look forward to sharing more with you soon.

With gratitude,

Tom