Mum was mincing steak when it started with Dad’s panicked shouts. She darted out onto the lawn, freshly Flymoed, to see flames dancing, him charging across the about-to-be- christened patio like a bull in a wipeclean plastic apron of a busty bikinied woman, his legs zig-zagging, his beard ablaze, soon tangled up in bunting. The … Continue reading The Barbecue (Royal Wedding, 1981) by Paul Stephenson
Author: And Other Poems
‘On the lifeside’ by Sepideh Jodeyri
A poem by Sepideh Jodeyri, translated to English by Fereshteh Vaziri Nasab On the lifeside He had a shapely smell, Cruel shapes And stranger-biting eyes It seemed that he craved for my heart I poured sugar for him on the lifeside He ate and didn’t eat The lifeside is huge and high On the lifeside … Continue reading ‘On the lifeside’ by Sepideh Jodeyri
Two poems by Polly Atkin
Imaging We can’t say for certain how long it had been there before we found it, masked by the hulk of the wardrobe, our own poor perception, its creeping rapidity, the weak radiation of winter light – its circular messages breaching the paper that glossed its scribblings over so many blinkered moons. It lived in … Continue reading Two poems by Polly Atkin
Three poems by Jodie Hollander
The Metronome She set the metronome ticking, her children the pendulum, rocking back and forth from Mother to Father, Father back to Mother. Then she’d twist the knob to Father-Mother, Mother-Father, or call out Allegro!, and they’d speed up: FatherMother, MotherFather, FatherMother. Her children walked sideways, their eyes shifted horizontally, they looked dizzy, even possessed—missing … Continue reading Three poems by Jodie Hollander
‘Praise Be to Unexpected Ways’ by Chaucer Cameron
Praise Be to Unexpected Ways after Sepideh Jodeyri I have breasts, which I love, I can speak the word breast, I can write the word breast, I can associate the breast with a robin on a branch. I love birds, I love the way they sing, and how they capture territory in unexpected ways. Praise … Continue reading ‘Praise Be to Unexpected Ways’ by Chaucer Cameron
Three poems by Joel M. Toledo
Ruin And before the end comes, the complete corrosion of all things beautiful, what calls us back to dust and the fine delicate things under rocks, the solemn quarters of the dead, or the believing children who simply cannot resist looking at the sun, curious about the circle behind the wide glare presiding over the … Continue reading Three poems by Joel M. Toledo
Two poems by Nancy Campbell
Sonnet Fatigue Six months on, I don’t know when you were born nor what you’ve been writing, though you tell me when you’ve been writing. I’ve been writing sonnets again, but this once fail-safe form dismays me now. A/B/B/A/: I forge the chain – or force it. The closing couplet seems too slight to hold … Continue reading Two poems by Nancy Campbell
Two poems by Adam Warne
Vandal that dangle by in root nook in Combs Wood beneath the moss a most potent go to fetch more than the size have bumble bees it’s not too late we’re quick we’ll over river to prick fingers Buckle because light thaws about what hops here beneath a thorny bough of a … Continue reading Two poems by Adam Warne
Two poems by Jacqueline Saphra
All My Mad Mothers My mother gathered every yellow object she could find: daffodils and gorgeous shawls, little pots of bile and piles of lemons. Once we caught her with a pair of fishnet stockings on a stick, trying to catch the sun. My mother never travelled anywhere without her flippers, goggles and a snorkel. … Continue reading Two poems by Jacqueline Saphra
Two poems by Martyn Crucefix
East-running road for KG You walk out on the east-running road just as far as the field of sunflowers the tarmac bisects where all day south their open faces have pursued the light so to your left they blaze before you while to your right they have turned cold green shoulders but you don’t go … Continue reading Two poems by Martyn Crucefix
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