When it failed to alarm, my father took the clock apart. Laid it all out on the kitchen table. While the dog dreamed and snored, we watched him clean every piece, then, with breaths held, attempt reassembly. It worked perfectly for the next ten years, which was odd, given the sixteen horological components my … Continue reading ‘And What We Know About Time’ by Tania Hershman
Author: And Other Poems
‘Citizenship Ceremony’ by Caroline Smith
Citizenship Ceremony Every few months a timetable clash means the Citizenship Ceremony and the asylum surgery converge. From outside the council chamber, as each new citizen is made, we can hear the patter of applause. It is rain to parched, thirsty soil – every head turns and lifts towards the sound. (from The … Continue reading ‘Citizenship Ceremony’ by Caroline Smith
‘On the Fence’ by Sharon Black
On the Fence The view’s not bad. Between the patchwork of prejudice and the roll of logic, on a clear day you can see right across to the Cairngorms, rising like indignation in the distance. No need for reason this high up. The grass is green whichever way you look. Sometimes I amuse myself with … Continue reading ‘On the Fence’ by Sharon Black
Two poems by Fiona Moore
In our Hearts By the old hospital the mini-cab drivers still say, everyone says, though there’s no hospital now except in the mind, only a high dark blue hoarding with Homes and Communities Agency stencilled in white, along with A new heart for East Greenwich. The demolition’s long finished and the vast space is closed … Continue reading Two poems by Fiona Moore
‘Imp’ by Gregory Leadbetter
Imp On the bad days, I shooed her mews away out of nothing but an absence of joy. I never installed a back-door flap for her, so she would patter all night to get in at the window while I lay wide-eyed and sleepless, pretending not to hear. I know it was a blessing when … Continue reading ‘Imp’ by Gregory Leadbetter
‘A Brock Geology’ by Jean Atkin
A Brock Geology Night falls & ......................................................fills the dingle with badgers badgers pressing grasses.........................................................to bent curves they feed & drink ......................................................& play, they trail their piebald noses low .....................................................to flow of brook & deep below, taste all the cold .................................................then warming rocks red iron beneath their ...............................................................paws & pads they follow glint of mica ..........................................................in their … Continue reading ‘A Brock Geology’ by Jean Atkin
‘The Data Quality Analyst’s Lot’ by Hilaire
For every if, an else, a then. For every cursor, a loop that ends. Each open bracket must be closed; so single quotes must come in pairs and double quotes—ditto. Her joy is found in datasets, in structured queries and parsed syntax. Wild cards flourish within her fields, while table by table she builds … Continue reading ‘The Data Quality Analyst’s Lot’ by Hilaire
‘The Red Shoes’ by Joanne Key
The Red Shoes (for Karen) Dead on my feet, I watched those shoes flounce through the churchyard, dance on your grave, all vamp and platform. Flashes of red infected the corner of my eye as they tiptoed over my face. As I tried to sleep, I heard them clacking away the early hours like drunks … Continue reading ‘The Red Shoes’ by Joanne Key
‘The songs’ by Choman Hardi
The songs These are the songs which were played in the background of our days in the taxis and shops in every house we set foot in. These are the songs that suddenly disappeared from our lives or we disappeared from them when we left our homeland behind. We carried them in our … Continue reading ‘The songs’ by Choman Hardi
‘Miracle’ by Stephanie Norgate
In supermarkets, strapped in a trolley, on the motorway, belted in the back of a car, under the foundered houses, open mouthed and fed by drips, in a box drilled with holes, in the hold of a boat, in fish crates and on cardboard, on pallets and straw, on a bed of needles on … Continue reading ‘Miracle’ by Stephanie Norgate
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