Jacob Burgess Rollo I like this painting because I likedyour face when I told youthat the portrait isn’t of Christbut of The Yellow Christ –who is distinct. Like how mine isnot the same red nose as the red noseof a drunk. The pew pew pewof a gun in the wide mouthof a kid is just … Continue reading Gauguin’s Le Christ Jaune

            Michael Conley I admit I am regularly awake until 3am on my phone watching clips of Extreme Caving videos. But when I say Extreme Caving videos I do NOT mean porn: it really is Extreme Caving videos and if you don’t believe me, why not ask me whether I’ve heard of the Nutty Putty Incident and let … Continue reading I’m Probably Too Sensible (Fat) For It Anyway

            Amy Dugmore Whenever I remember Paul said thisI think how it’s a bold statement for a manconsidering what Eve already achievedwith a single Granny Smith, a whole bunchof stuff the world still hasn’t forgiven her forlike oversized sanitary pads, every singleInstagram influencer ever and children’schoirs. Every single Instagram influencer saysit’s good to have goals so … Continue reading With an apple I will astonish Paris

            Elizabeth Osmond All I need is a giant Daddy Pig costumebut I would not do something as trivial asrun a marathon in it.I would seal myself in the hollow space,peak out through a visor.At work I would take up more space,people edging sideways to let me through,turning to listen to my booming deep voice.When my … Continue reading Swamped

            Oz Hardwick It was the last perfect summer, the last year we tried to fly, and I remember how we all lined up at the end of the pier with our lovingly crafted wings. There was fibreglass, feathers, hardboard, cardboard, silk, and silver foil, all strapped to suntanned shoulders as we weighed up sky and … Continue reading The Icarus Tradition

            Crispin Best From the train you see into the homesof the rich. Given time, even babies grow.Carrots go bendy on the shelf. The half-frozenfield will thaw. Peanut butter comes and goes. Elephants understand themselves in wayswe cannot fully grasp. And whatever elseyou do, please try not to hurt the moths.They belong to the landlord. There … Continue reading Big Day For Annoying People

            Conrad Rayner Shuttle buses drove in circles around a desert, and their engines squealed as if birds were dying inside them. The dunes moved sideways, creaking silently. I heard the sound in my head and started to giggle. I waited for it to stop, for the sun to stop, and for it to get colder, … Continue reading The Mind is Bad I Feel Bad

            Ian O'Brien The swallows return regardless,forgive us our trespasses,though the things they have seenhave sent them mad, wheelingas if to turn back the tide.Throats as red as lifejackets,song as shrill as babies’ cries:Stay in the sky, stay in the sky. Ian O’Brien is a teacher living in the Cambrian mountains. His novelette-in-flash ‘What The Fox … Continue reading Swallow Song

            Avash Byanjankar Every day Yuki does this dance of hers, dried leaves windswept,an early spring welcome against the Beppu breeze, hilltopssulfur-steamed playing hide and seek with the elder flowers,bush warblers slow-trilling from tree to tree. Hear the tidecoming in in brushes, a new treasure left behind each timeit leaves. Wet logs half-gnawed by the sea, … Continue reading Pre-script

            Lauren Camp You make a list of everything around you for 12 daysand have no solution. Truck fumes prance by. The trees arepleasant. Nobody is insisting on anything. Being here is like being a shiphidden in mist bound for regardless. You were beside the harbor. It was autumn, the leaves turning,the leaves falling, the leaves … Continue reading Thought Experiment