Longing Breath on the back of my neck, fingertips that slip away, footsteps behind me fading the more I strain to hear, felt as a shiver in the gut, the gravitational pull of planets, a gene lurking in strands of DNA like a song bound to endless repeats. I catch you in unsuspecting mirrors, a … Continue reading ‘Longing’ by Shirley Wright
Author: And Other Poems
‘The Ferryman’ by Kim Moore
They were waiting on the shore, some with mobiles in their hands, the words they thought they'd have the chance to say sitting round and smooth like stones inside their mouths, some on hands and knees, feeling for spectacles, eyes tight against the sun, not realising the dark had gone, and some sit on chair-shaped … Continue reading ‘The Ferryman’ by Kim Moore
‘Winding the Clocks’ by Carole Bromley
Winding the Clocks Each night you do the rounds, like a lover who keeps faith after the loved one’s gone; I guess it’s at the root of all you do. I’m thinking this as you set the alarm, lock the front door, hoist the pendulum; it falls to you now to wind the grandfather … Continue reading ‘Winding the Clocks’ by Carole Bromley
‘After the Wedding’ by Daniel Sluman
After the Wedding Back then, you were so London with your ecstatic white teeth, guest lists blissed from your fingers like weather reports. I have adored your ankles, snaffled the fine hairs that crisp the small of your back, & now, after I’ve licked the soap-traces from the underside of your knees, we find ourselves … Continue reading ‘After the Wedding’ by Daniel Sluman
A poem by Sharon Black
House of Swan You strike and I flare inside a cage of ice, dance the dance you taught me as a cygnet when you made me walk across your cigarette’s flicked ash. Too narrow for the spread of wings but wide enough to gaze for hours at my reflection as bones fused into shapes … Continue reading A poem by Sharon Black
‘Fox’s Eye’ by Amy Key
Fox's Eye Only take away the very dead, mouldering the air. Keep those that shiver cracker-dry, their throats ceramic and petals pearl. Let them loom more softly against the wall. As everything in this room has gone brittle: the pipes knuckle-crack equations, flakes trim the skirting, butterflies fidget off mantles of dust. In my … Continue reading ‘Fox’s Eye’ by Amy Key
‘Minor Hours’ by Max Wallis
Minor Hours Wake before bells fall when rain chatters at blinds and the haze of dawn is so thin you could slip through the light and press yourself against another world. Lie there and listen to the brook that gutters across the stones. Outside you know foxes gnaw at takeaways in bins. A cub … Continue reading ‘Minor Hours’ by Max Wallis
‘This Heart’ by Geraldine Clarkson
This Heart This cancelled cheque stub This ruby nightdress, flammable/ inflammable This pack of spare Catherine wheels This sack of reindeer antlers dry to tinder—this pot of glue This kindling This old lover’s glove, stitched leather This mechanical sunshine This poem begun again This poem begun again This hillock overlooking the Atlantic in the … Continue reading ‘This Heart’ by Geraldine Clarkson
A poem by Vanessa Gebbie
Beara Litany (after Paddy Bushe’s translation of the Song of Amergin) Am the heron’s hunchbacked flight Am the song of the tagged sea-eagle Am the roots of Ogham stones Am horizon’s blurred conjoining Am a hundred shades of shadow Am the sparrowhawk’s cry Am the cattle on the strand Am the gannet’s lightning … Continue reading A poem by Vanessa Gebbie
‘Through Carved Wooden Binoculars’ by Sarah Salway
Through Carved Wooden Binoculars 1. I want to carve you some wooden binoculars. 2. I want to sew you a suit from slivers of bark. 3. I want to run up and down your body like an ant. 4. I want to take each one of your feet and bury it in earth. 5. … Continue reading ‘Through Carved Wooden Binoculars’ by Sarah Salway
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