My Dad painted by Francis Bacon Oxford Heart Centre – Critical Care Unit Someone off stage, drags him by the hair, his face smudged upwards – chin tilted, fish hooked lip, gumshield and tubes smeared left to right. Behind, digital blinks monitor oncoming strokes. I stare, eyes shut, open to a … Continue reading Two poems by Michael Scott
Author: And Other Poems
A poem by Andrew F Giles
Monsoon Then - as diamonds - stratospherical broadcasts, cast out live across the sea. His homeland glinted, dressed up in bijouterie, but - held to the light - the faultlines of el último respiro. Breathed in, the elements became fast, masters of magical acts: somehow, on a back street of history - blockaded, … Continue reading A poem by Andrew F Giles
Two poems by Richie McCaffery
The truth so far In the chalky trough under the blackboard, lessons dusted and already forgotten. The teacher is squawking away once more, scratching into the tabula rasa the truths so far about God and arithmetic with the expungible white of fossil shells. (first published in The Rialto; from Spinning Plates, Happenstance Press, … Continue reading Two poems by Richie McCaffery
Two poems by Penelope Shuttle
Long Man The Long Man holds open house at Wilmington, the Downs are his backyard, his walking poles know their way home, they know where the best blackberries grow - not far from Heaven Farm, not far from The Lavender Line, the shadow village of Ripe, he won’t share them with me, though the … Continue reading Two poems by Penelope Shuttle
Two poems by Moniza Alvi
Two extracts from At the Time of Partition 17 And Where? Pakistan! the crowd roared. Pakistan Zindabad! Long live Pakistan! This country – her country. A nation in its instability, one that could change lives with the suddenness of a blow to the head. And Jinnah – his photograph was everywhere, … Continue reading Two poems by Moniza Alvi
Four poems by Martin Figura
Four poems from Arthur Home Arthur lies warm in his soft feather bed muffled beneath his blue eiderdown, the night doesn’t frighten him, one little bit. He reaches in the dark for twenty gold ships that sail under stars to a faraway land marked with a cross his mother has stitched. Each bright … Continue reading Four poems by Martin Figura
‘The Oldest Paperboy in the World and Me’ by Ian McMillan
The Oldest Paperboy in the World and Me Our paths cross in the tight dark And his sack reflects the streetlight And he nods and I nod And his sack is emptier than the past And his sack is emptier than the future And his sack is all there is. Our paths diverge in the … Continue reading ‘The Oldest Paperboy in the World and Me’ by Ian McMillan
‘Airfix’ by Jacqui Rowe
Airfix Industrious as ever, my father built the revolution on our dining table, laid out its components on their sprue, staked with the pain of detail painted before sticking to the paper rules his left brain clung to like the map of a machine. This was not work. That dwelt among the coining presses and … Continue reading ‘Airfix’ by Jacqui Rowe
‘The Nudist Beach’ by Dorothy Lehane
The Nudist Beach What we musn’t ignore, says Dad, are the difficulties and responsibilities of the Penis. We mustn’t ignore that. Mum looks up from the Catholic Times, tuts, goes back. I look out toward France; the hazy line of sailing boats, stocky, athletic calves dividing the horizon. The old men want me to see … Continue reading ‘The Nudist Beach’ by Dorothy Lehane
‘When I Was A Boy’ by Liz Berry
I was a boy every week-day afternoon the year I was seven. Hitched my school skirt into shorts, flattened my hair with a black ballet band, wore my brother’s elasticated tie. I had many different names: sometimes Paul or Steven (boy next door), sometimes Dean (rough) or Jean Paul (exotic), here on exchange. I … Continue reading ‘When I Was A Boy’ by Liz Berry
