Plait The trick is to hold three braids in two hands and ignore the logistics of mornings. Wind the first over the second, then cross the third over the first, and so on. Don’t get cross with excessive fidgeting, or arguments slipping like hoarded minutes out of hand. Keep a zen-like calm in your fingers. … Continue reading ‘Plait’ by Emma Simon
Author: And Other Poems
‘Ophelia’ by Peter Kenny
Ophelia You write your name on water and then you sink. A wet halo shrinks around your face and you sink lips last. Ophelia why didn’t you float like the others? Why didn’t you drift downstream with a glut of Pre-Raphaelite flowers? I’m terrified that you’ve stopped breathing or that you gulp the dim, death-gladdening … Continue reading ‘Ophelia’ by Peter Kenny
‘Sibling Love’ by Kate Hendry
Sibling Love It's always when my back is turned. I'm at my desk – a hollow thump, palm on back, her echoing rib cage. I turn, grab my son's arms. I want him to confess. 'It was an accident,' he pleads. Always too late. I drag him down the hall, he's not yet dressed. 'I … Continue reading ‘Sibling Love’ by Kate Hendry
‘An Artifice’ by J. A. Sutherland
An Artifice How do I love thee? Let me count the ways - E. B. Browning I' benedico il loco e 'l tempo et l'ora - Petrarch How can I stop myself from loving you? How many ways can I deny the pleasure? Could I delete each … Continue reading ‘An Artifice’ by J. A. Sutherland
Excerpt from ‘Lune’ by Sarah Hymas
Lune (excerpt) Two views on intimacy: every cloud is wet; the ocean rains dead things. And still some of us can’t see even when we’ve plunged under the surface. Romance is when one has learnt to disappear – like phosphorous in still waters, or oxygen from the deep. This isn’t Hollywood. We can only guess … Continue reading Excerpt from ‘Lune’ by Sarah Hymas
‘On a carrier pigeon found dead in a chimney’ by Samuel Tongue
On a carrier pigeon found dead in a chimney Time has done its dissections, spread the jigsaw on the kitchen table. Some wing bones, hollow radius and carpus, a fretwork of struts and trusses. Interlocking ribs around an unsnapped wishbone. An empty skull, chalky with age, and a tiny red capsule concealing a cigarette-paper of … Continue reading ‘On a carrier pigeon found dead in a chimney’ by Samuel Tongue
‘The poet in Samos’ by Richard Gwyn
The poet in Samos Here are the things you left behind: an old bus ticket to a place with an illegible name, a stack of government files from distinct regimes, a pile of rocks, a copy of Cavafy, well-thumbed. I don’t know how many meals you ate here, by the seaward window. I don’t know … Continue reading ‘The poet in Samos’ by Richard Gwyn
‘The War Reporter Paul Watson and the Room across the Hall’ by Dan O’Brien
The War Reporter Paul Watson and the Room across the Hall It’s like they’re still in college. Mattresses on the floor. Empty soda bottles filled with water. Chicken bones and French fry stubs in clamshell cardboard. Toilet rolls along electric radiators. One laptop like a fire in the cave mouth at night. Cords suckling at … Continue reading ‘The War Reporter Paul Watson and the Room across the Hall’ by Dan O’Brien
‘Tuning Fork’ by Ruby Robinson
Tuning Fork Lifting the lid, you’d tell me: once the fork is struck, the initial blade of overtones quieten to one note composed of vibrations undetectable by the human eye, almost silent to the ear. I always loved the bit about the shattered tooth, the thrill when you lifted the steel close to my cheek … Continue reading ‘Tuning Fork’ by Ruby Robinson
Two poems by Rebecca Gethin
Renny - 1961 Even then, I knew my performance as a primrose wouldn’t impress. But as soon as the bell clanged we played wild animals. We’d be at it on the floor, some crawling on all fours, others writhing, all of us snarling or growling. I guessed he’d notice my sabre-tooth-tiger impression: I knew how … Continue reading Two poems by Rebecca Gethin
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