Anna Milan             'When you feel too much / tears fall like rain / til there’s nothing left to             say’ – ‘Tears Like Rain’ by Collide After the tears – which are not like rain,but the kind of flood that could carry you awayfor good – there should be quiet. (Quiet like the lovely stain the sun leaves on a … Continue reading Not like rain

            Nadia Lines I take my vitamins with gin and tonic.I am in a swanky mid-century hotel. I have been put up by my editor because he does not want to put up with me.  There is a chaise longue here. The bath is marble and has clawed feet. I can cry as much as I wishand I always get … Continue reading Self-portait in a compact

has more than one bodybut only one way of growing. He is degraftedinto two and three and. When his heart misses a beat,Barebones passes over into a new bodywhich confronts himlike an undiscovered coastlinesnagging a forest of cloud.Cack-handed though he is,Barebones copies maps to perfectioncomposing every turn of the shore.Barebones enjoys games of chance:his favourite bingo … Continue reading Barebones

            Erica Hesketh 1. Fresh peach; we worshipher nose as it lifts to meetour pinching fingers.                                                        2.                                                        The rumbling trains.                                                        Our slumbering neighborhood                                                       underneath a mackerel sky. 3. My mind is racing.What if all the world’s mothersrose up at once…                                                        4.                                                        White narcissus;                                                       at night we scroll through pictures                                                       on our phones and weep. 5. Rain on our window.Rain … Continue reading Scenes from our bed

            Sakina Hassan They weren't killed They simply died A terrible tragedyNot arrested only detainedWomanhandled, gently, gentlyEscorted off the premises And into unmarked vehiclesRe-educated, realigned, reassembled And while in processingHearts stoppedNerves unraveled InexplicablyBodies disintegrated untouched Blood rose, and escaped through wounds that We cannot confirm at this timeWhile there is someConcern for their whereabouts Hereabouts the missing areOnly runawaysThat choking sound Is only the air … Continue reading This is an Official Statement

            Philip Gross So often the knitting and the unravelling can look much the same. These intrications could be how water thinks a country,                         headwaters to sea,                                            how rain speaks to a continent and land replies:  a gush or a seep, a flood breaking its banks, the muddy wallow of an oxbow like the lost thread of a sentence that mislaid its syntax, its … Continue reading Scan

            Michael Conley At the only point on the pier where the sea's boisterous swellclears the high stone wallof course you're the firstto leap onto a bench's frosted sill and bathe your face in the mist and of course I'm behind you thinking we haven't had any breakfast and my hands are cold and the holiday is already half doneand why … Continue reading Cemaes Bay

            Rachel Cleverly  The worst thing I have ever said in a fight isyou don’t even care about recycling! My hands are bleeding. And my nipples, too. It is exactly like me to roll my eyes as everythingoozes apart. You say you want a future with me but if you get caught stealingbags for life from Sainsbury’s … Continue reading Spread

            Elizabeth Chadwick Pywell All over the world, plants are alive without tryingbut honestly, this is harder than expected.There are women in families & couples & all alone whom I haven’t yet met, who might be my mother if I let them. Other people have chosen to stay & others will make that choice, so why can’t I?Whatever happens, … Continue reading Please Explain Why You Would Make A Good Wife

            Dominic Leonard They don’t look like the portraits but I knowThat it’s him. I can see them allIn the dark green dark, up to the ruffsIn inky water. There is no timeTo ask why there is such an ornateSource this deep in the woods,Just his lovely face andThe blue Halloween smoke, their eyesTelevisions reflecting moonlightAs … Continue reading Dream of Fourteen Shakespeares in the Fountain