Small Epiphanies
David Terelinck
Small Epiphanies was longlisted for the Maya Poetry Book Awards 2026 (UK) for small press and independent publishers.
A collection of poems that delivers what the titles promises: observed and recorded moments of daily life, and our interaction within nature and the universe. These poems cross the global landscapes of loss, grief, place, desire, art and music, memory, love, laughter, and hope. They are infused with small discoveries and moments of awareness around the human condition and the meaning of our existence, often bringing a smile of nostalgia to the reader.
-
Nights by the bay are a symphony of wood
and water; the distant slap of an oar
on the skin of the inlet,
bowlines rasp against the bollard.
A sloop mast groans
as a swelling breeze gossips
with the canvas. The jetty
is bleached with moonlight.
Barnacled pilings silently sway,
sullen with their greening beards
and weathered disposition.
The sand is cool and damp.
An incoming tide shackles my ankles
with kelp, dusts my calves
with salt. I breathe the brackish air
and wonder which whales exhaled
the molecules I draw in.
Each step brings offerings:
tormented driftwood
sand-polished sea-glass
shells from distant oceans.
I look up to see a field of stars
campo de estrellas
the Spaniards called it.
And suddenly I believe
the Milky Way could be dust rising
from the blistered feet
of countless pilgrims.
And beyond Santiago de Compostela
lies Finisterre
where the road-weary
find the end of the world
and are new baptised.
Another starfish froths up at my feet,
luminescent jellyfish blob
beyond the break,
and I’m no longer uncertain
of my place in the world.
This place
where small epiphanies are found
in the creak of a midnight hawser,
a quicksilver moonbridge that links
seawall to shore. And it’s enough
to make you almost
(almost)
believe a man
could walk on water.
-
the Japanese have a hundred ways
to say snow and rain
yet I yearn for words to name
how a whiff of Old Spice
on a passing stranger
makes me tremble
what is the word for the balance point
between faith and fear
that moment winter sunlight
stutters through venetians
to pool in the hollow ache
of my need for you
we need a word to define
that shock beyond grief
at the coldness of your skin
as I retied the Windsor knot
just the way you liked it
and what is the term for bearing
the unbearable
when I slip into the skin
that you once wore
zipping up your Burberry
plunging my hands into pockets
that once enveloped yours
my feet wallowing
in your gumboots
-
after The Milkmaid (1657-1658)
oil on canvas, 46cm x 41cm
— Johannes Vermeer
There is prayer in this woman.
Prayer that needs no utterance.
Up before Matins, whilst the house
still slumbers, she labours
away the shadowed hours
shoulder welded to the flank
of cow after cow.
Her thick sinewed arms
drive the heels of roughened hands
into the dough. Over and over.
These are not chores,
but benedictions to life.
And her kitchen now smells
of hay and heifer
the innocence
of daily bread.
This is no milkmaid.
No kitchen helper.
She is no less than a saint,
proclaimed in cobalt
& ochre,
centered in her own world.
A world where pouring milk
becomes devotion.
A world where holding
the belly of a jug
(ever so gently)
makes us quietly weep
for the faith we’ve lost.
Where meaning lies: ‘Small Epiphanies’ by David Terelinck reviewed by Kimberly K. Williams in Rochford Street Review, December 2024
David Terelinck’s first book of poetry, Small Epiphanies, is exactly what the title promises to be: a collection of poems which observes and records daily life. These poems show readers that the examination of the daily is where meaning lies. Within the lines and images are themes of the influence of religion, God (which, in these poems, is not to be conflated with organised religion), nature, and people, with the general conclusion that in the interactions of all of the above, we humans discover more about our existence.
The strength of these poems lies in the clear voice which is created by the deliberate use of verbs: “A sloop mast groans / as a swelling breeze gossips / with the canvas…”. These lines from near the beginning of the title poem, which is also the first poem in the book, create a contemplative tone for the remainder of the book. The last lines of the poem are stunning . . .
Click on the tab below to read the full review published in Rochford Street Review.
‘Small Epiphanies’ reviewed by Melissa Ashley in Stylus Lit, September 2025.
Small Epiphanies is the debut poetry collection of Gold Coast poet, David Terelinck. The collection spans a wide range of adventures, passions and emotional states: travel, place, grief, imagination, sex, desire, food, gardens, nature, memory, art and music, just to name a few. Terelinck’s poetry is packed with fresh and original wordplay: judicious rhythms; well buffed verbs; imagery suggestive of vivid texture and light. Aptly novel associations and juxtapositions are everywhere. In ‘Blue Mountains Elegy,’ for example, ‘the melaleuca is bonsaied / by ocean winds and salt’ (38); the sky is ‘a pale blue ceiling / sponged with clouds’ (38) . . .
The ever-watchful eye of Terelinck’s poetic observer lingers and savours the small pleasures and surprises of material, day to day life. Terelinck writes tenderly about imprinted, recognisable childhood pleasures, bringing a smile of nostalgia to the reader . . .
Click on the tab below to read the full review published in Stylus Lit.
‘Small Epiphanies’ reviewed by Jack Anthony for UPLIFT Poetry, July 2026
There’s a formula to analysing a poetry collection: break it up into themes, literary technique, personal impressions, intent and execution. Ironically though, the more unique a collection is, the harder it is to write about it. Undoubtedly, this is my favourite read this year. Which is why I must default to my pure, first impressions scribbled in my notebook:
“This book has everything a poet wants — sadness, grief, queer, SEXY, natural motifs,”
Terelinck, however, places great emphasis on preserving the authenticity of the epiphany — which is unpredictable by nature, non-linear, and varied in its themes and gravity . . .
Click on the tab below to read the full review published in UPLIFT Poetry.
David Terelinck
David Terelinck is notorious for holding words hostage on a page until they agree to become a poem. On rare occasions a ransom is paid in prize money. A lover of gin & tonic, along with long beach and rainforest walks, David feels we need more poetry less politics, and firmly believes dolphins should be running the planet.
In a previous Sydney-based lifetime, David was a post-graduate clinical registered nurse and was also involved in academic writing. Many of his articles were published in peer-reviewed nursing journals. Now retired from paid employment, he lives and writes in warmer climes on the lands of the Yugambeh peoples.
David has published two tanka collections (Casting Shadows, 2011 and Slow Growing Ivy, 2014), and co-authored A Shared Umbrella with Beverley George in 2016. He has judged many tanka competitions and edited international journals and anthologies. David’s tanka and haiku have won awards internationally, and have been published widely in journals and anthologies.
Since a return to free verse poetry in 2019, he has been shortlisted, placed, and won awards in Australia and overseas. His poems have been anthologised regularly.
Small Epiphanies is David’s first free verse collection.