Welcome to Acacia Publications and to Fokkina McDonnell, an award-winning poet now living in the Netherlands. Here you find her poems, the writing of fellow poets and writing prompts. She also blogs about life and art in the Netherlands.

Her poems have been widely published and anthologised. They’ve been successful in many competitions and nominated for the Forward Prize. Fokkina has three poetry collections, the latest with Broken Sleep Books, and a pamphlet. Details on the Books page.

The original manuscript of her third collection was praised by Vahni (Anthony Ezekiel) Capildeo, judge of the 2020 poetry entries, for its ‘beautiful minimalism and intriguing poise‘ and received a Northern Writers’ Award. Published in October 2022, copies are available from Broken Sleep Books.

The poet Matthew Paul has posted a perceptive and detailed analysis of the poem Safe House, from the collection Remembering / Disease. The poem was inspired by a poem by the late poet Andrew Waterhouse. Matthew’s post gets to the heart and soul, not just of the poem, but of Fokkina’s writing. Here is the link.

Blog

On her blog Fokkina shares new poems and writing prompts. Just search for ‘writing prompts’.

Here she also showcases monthly guest poets. Almost 70 poets have now featured. Search for ‘guest poet’ to access those posts. The most recent guest poet was Kate Noakes with poems from her new collection Sublime Lungs.

Social media: Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, and Substack.

News

The poem Interior with a Table has been awarded equal 4th place in the Kent & Sussex Poetry Society’s Open Competition 2026.

Recent publications:

He kneels at her feet is on Atrium , edited by Holly Magill and Claire Walker. The poem is dedicated to M – a friend’s carer.

The poem Canada is as far away as bibles are is published on the site After. This online journal is edited by Mark Antony Owen and dedicated to ekphrastic poems. The poem was inspired by a huge lightbox made by the Canadian artist Rodney Graham.

The photo shows The Avid Reader, 1949 displayed at Voorlinden Museum, Wassenaar, the Netherlands.

A poem has been included in the project Time as Falling Atoms. It is curated by Louise Mather, the Editor-in-Chief of Acropolis, The project is a poetic exploration of time in relation to experiences of disability, chronic illness, mental health, and neurodiversity. It’s an inspiring collage of poems, art and photos. Here is the link. Once on the site, click on the image for the pdf.

---