Corinna Board When it’s done,when we’ve reached the point of no return and it’s too late to save ourselves.When all that’s left are lists of scientific names – plants and trees,creatures we’ll never see again. When even those are lost:the books and hard-drives, digital archives, photos uploaded to the cloud.When cloudless days are rhythmed only … Continue reading Extinction Event

            Toby Campion                                                                          caitlin my year three sweetheartsorry I didn’t make the wedding ceremony you laid outthe skipping ropes beautifully now you work supply in a secondary school                                                                              you’re in the library teachinga table of soft boys how to treat women who want them tucking the labelinto the neck of one of their grey … Continue reading palone—

            Izzy Radford Whilst Sam is choosing between two women and meeting the father from his past, I find a stray dog. I name him Pablo. Pablo and I get into all kinds of scrapes for 29 minutes. I don’t know where I live so we just go walking. When I return from the blackness, I … Continue reading B plot

            Dayle Olson When you get right down to it,it’s all beautiful. The crow flapping past on ragged wings,the half-fallen fruit tree,the clouds, gunmetal gray and titanium white,the exposed marshland made naked by an over-filled moon. The delicate window insect,the flute of a redwing blackbird,the weathered grain of the window frame where the Willapa windhas eaten the paint. … Continue reading Tokeland in March

            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