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

            Gale Acuff One day you wake up dead in Heaven for God's judgment, it's either Heaven or Helland I'm pulling for Heaven but I'll takewhat I can get, I guess eternal painis better than no feeling at all butdon't quote me, I might find out one day I'mwrong and then spend Eternity suffer-ing like nobody's … Continue reading Two Sonnets

            Imogen Osborne The first weapon was the fist,solemn, purple, stuffed with bright  berries sweating againstthe boy, who is the second weapon, he picked them on his way to me.Like a poem, a date requires a central image. Even the worstencounter can be redeemed by this. And he delivered — opening his hand at the bar like … Continue reading Mulberries

            John Osborne 'Half price for sad people,' says the sign on the windowand the queue goes all the way down Unthank Road. To make their money back the florist charges doublefor happy people and the happy people don’t mind, they haven’t really noticed. They are too busylooking forward to yet more beautiful moments. 'I don't … Continue reading Flowers are so expensive

            John Osborne We used to go round for Sunday lunch with a man who collected weather vanes. He always ate at 3 pm which my mum hated but I always liked how dangerous it felt and afterwards we'd go out into the garden and he'd show us his latest weather vane. 'This one’s called The Running Soldier,' he'd tell us, lighting up a … Continue reading Weather vanes

            Rowan Lyster I am having a flare-up of brain fog. In the heat,the nurse said many patients report feeling a weighted blanket on their limbs. There is no timeline for recovery.Everything is always the hardest thing.I am having a bit of trouble with my breathing.  A flare up of weighted blankets and elephants standing on my head. … Continue reading It can help to know that others are experiencing something similar

            Rebecca Tamás 1 Two ghosts accompany you to the edge of the wood. How do you tell them about your recent purchase of premier delivery? How do you explain to them that there’s a pair of printed trousers that have been in your online basket for weeks, blinking? It is impossible. You come from a … Continue reading Dreams in Hungarian