Hutong Song There is a cypress tree in the middle of the courtyard; its sunken chest become hollow. It is very old. One day a starling passed by – it was very cold - and dropped a lunch berry by mistake. The berry fell down deep deep down into the dark cavern of the … Continue reading Two poems by Michael Wagg
Author: And Other Poems
Two poems by Maria Taylor
In Love First, dream yourself into a mid-terrace let flowers grow inside your head. Rethink the kitchen, see a dining table tangled with jasmine, petals over tired pine. Where once you were arm-deep in sink grease watch holy roses grow from a plughole as swallowtails escape from a cutlery drawer and fly up to … Continue reading Two poems by Maria Taylor
Two poems by Ben Parker
Ornithology There is a type of bird whose mating call comes not from its throat but the inside of its egg. So, while the female’s shell lodges the lives of feathered embryos, the male’s encloses air. When it is laid the casing dries and shrinks and the carefully uneven surface starts to crack, releasing … Continue reading Two poems by Ben Parker
‘Winter’ by Clarissa Aykroyd
Winter after Rilke I love the light of winters gone by. They weren't so carefree, and we cringed at their hard, bright strength; we breathed in the cold air of courage to face them: they crowned us magi of the snows. And the fire that withstood those winters was all flame and flow, true … Continue reading ‘Winter’ by Clarissa Aykroyd
‘February’ by Boris Pasternak translated by Sasha Dugdale
February. Get out the ink and weep! Sob in February, sob and sing While the wet snow rumbles in the street And burns with the black spring. Take a cab. For a coin Be carried through church bells, the chirp of tyres To a place where the torrential rain Is louder still than ink or … Continue reading ‘February’ by Boris Pasternak translated by Sasha Dugdale
More Poetry, More Horses
Camargues by David Morley I will wake up in a world that hooves have led to — Les Murray Some horses are caves; you catch that by the way they flicker and shy at shadow. You can walk inside horses and sense their walls trembling around you. Camargues are air-delvers, the pile-driver we’re gripping on … Continue reading More Poetry, More Horses
More Poetry in Horses
City Horses by Alan Buckley Cutting across to the Abingdon Road westwards from the towpath, I walk along an unfamiliar track. A soft green lung reveals itself. Along three sides trees flourish, framing the view; like a stage’s deception, that makes a theatre disappear as it draws the audience in. Horses are gathered in the … Continue reading More Poetry in Horses
Poetry in Horses
The Night Horses are stalled between sleep and dreaming. In the steading they lower their massive heads to the earth’s nod. In darkness white-faced Clydesdales lip at nothing. Below a halo of bats they rest their load of feather and bone and horn. They hear, don’t hear, the scrape of shoes, as a gelding shunts … Continue reading Poetry in Horses
Three poems by Jane Clarke
Winter Since the trouble with his heart she tries to keep him in but before the breakfast tea is cold, he shrugs on his coat, lifts his cap, blackthorn stick and heads out across the fields to count cattle and sheep check how far the flood has risen, break ice for cows at the … Continue reading Three poems by Jane Clarke
Two poems by Wendy Pratt
Haunted For eight nights you haunt me- more than just the echo of your loss – I dream my body is your vessel, again. I am earthy and taut, my skin the drum on which you beat a reassuring prattle of small limbs: an elbow, a heel, the hard pressure of your head pressed up … Continue reading Two poems by Wendy Pratt
