David Harsent: six poems
House Arrest David Harsent writes: Like many writers, or so I suspect, I have found the lockdowns productive, not least the first. There...
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ONE HAND CLAPPING
Jo Balmer: two poems
Ghost Passage Kent, 553 CE ... here I must record a story which seems more like fable than truth. And yet it cannot be passed over…...
Ben Morgan: a poem
Golden Camel and Innocence The Roman emperor Valentinian (3 July 321 – 17 November 375) is often considered the last great western...
Nkateko Masinga: a poem
rituals of healing three times daily, our standing appointment behind the store: your hands, the ointment, my tattoo glistening as the...
Louise Peterkin: a poem
Image by Rowan Briggs Smith Two years in which a man living as a virtual recluse pretends to be a scientist on the verge on an important...
Richard Skinner: a poem
Shōji The wind is high tonight, gust after gust pounding the tallest branches of the planes that toss like forests of kelp on the ocean...
Nicola Nathan: a poem
Basso Continuo A winter field under fog: ghost- sheep drift towards the hedgerow as mist might flow through mist, kites calling through...
Alan Humm: a poem
Anchorite Do not think that I am ignorant of the body nor that these walls are an analogy. They do not represent God’s love, nor are they...
Stephen Boyce: a poem
Churchyard at Stour Provost I'm thinking of the way the spirit is set loose on the dying breath, here where everything looks back at you...
Olaewe David Opeyemi: a poem
In this, our second Christmas issue, we'd like to start a feature in which we bring back a poem that you might have missed. We like this...
Hélène Demetriades: a poem
Shutting down for winter The nest is smeared like builders' caulk along the shed's eaves, whorl upon whorl of a white and beige...
Agnes Marton: a poem
Shaman Boy Kills His Father I kick your boots from my feet without connecting nouns to verbs. Combustible, just like the greying sky. I...
Jessica Covil-Manset: a poem
Mud Pies When I was small, and still believed in tunnels made of branches and raked leaves, I knew the recipe for mud pies. Dirt in one...
Louise Longson: a poem
Why Snow Cries When each part touches, divided arms unite in an infinite matrix; apparent strength hiding its true fragility. Only after...
James Strowman: a poem
Lichen Once there, lurking beneath the skin, it grows like something akin to the scheming between fungus and bacteria. Lichen, its...
Mark Russell: three poems
The Red-Haired Man A red-haired man was breathing deeply outside the door. I could see his shoulders slowly rise and fall through the...
Pratibha Castle: a poem
Octopus Ride The cage dangles upside down on the tip of a tentacle flung, like a baby's arm, to its steepest sprawl. It idles in the...
Marie-Therese Taylor: a poem
Her Place On cold days, from the kitchen window I have seen her, walking the path where her ashes lie. A winter woman, my father called...
Moira Garland: a poem
Anew Amber glows in its own light a serenade on her palm skin listening to the song of stone a once-tree leaves behind all that is...
Rebecca Gethin: a poem
In the haar ...horses are grazing on the unfenced cliff. One is two-tailed. They're standing neck to neck, teeth scraping along salty...
Finola Scott: a poem
A threatening avalanche I'm all hazard, my body urging movement. The river is recalling welders' sparks. Thrawn I ignore the rumour of...
Tom Millner: a poem
Fireflies I glimpse them through the trees, like candles in an empty church. Tiny radiant bursts climb upwards, dying as they begin. ...
Julie-ann Rowell: a poem
Evening Out The dark green dress tonight with the V neck, the rhinestone earrings and a ring: pure gold. You lead me by the hand into the...
Dane Holt: a poem
Precious Little Mystery I'm partnered with Leroux. Bad clam, he's locked himself behind his frosted pain. My job is to stand in the...
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