Claire Sosienski Smith I am a wormand I am practisinghow to be a poet I go to my friendsand I ask them if theythink my poetry is any good they say, we don’tknow if your poetryis any goodwe haven’t seen it I say, that is not the pointyou are meant to say yes I am … Continue reading Becoming a poet

            Anna Kibbey when holding a pair of secateurs, so whydo I prune with so little conviction, plantbulbs with no faith they’ll come to anything? Only the green tongues of the youngtulips know nothing of frost, babblinglike toddlers in a nursing home. Anna Kibbey is a second-year MA student at The Poetry School. Her work has been published … Continue reading I am at my most adult

            Charlotte Moore Because I have this reason that I have. And it is sadTo me now to remember the day in April on whichI decided it wasn’t going to cut it, really, being scared.I think, when I am being honest. I was never afraid. I was guilty.I felt shame when I heard the wings bend … Continue reading I Am No Longer Afraid of Pigeons

            Aisling Towl Hippolytus goes out for coffee and bagels. Says he’s feeding me up for winter, more to hold. Asks if I’ll take his dog hunting while he’s abroad. I tell him I’ve not felt like this for a long time. He tells me he’s not felt like this, ever. I met the last girl … Continue reading Hippolytus Redux

            Vik Shirley Squall There is a strong gale blowing in David Lynch’s hair. I am trying to make my way through his tresses, but it is near-on impossible and there is freezing cold sea spray blowing in my face. Up ahead I see a lighthouse and its keeper beckoning me from its balcony. When I … Continue reading from ‘Inside David Lynch’s Hair’

            Sarah Edwards Sarah Edwards is a writer and editor in Durham, North Carolina. She has work published in Subtropics, The Yale Review, Annulet, The Stinging Fly, Ninth Letter, no tokens, The Sycamore Review, and The Carolina Quarterly, among other publications. 

            Clementine Ewokolo Burnley The buildings were constructed in the 1960saround a pine forest containing a concreted-over nuclear reactor that had shut down. I felt special.The pre-alpine hills were rounded and reminded me of the sloping curve of Bwéa. The coffee was realand always the same price everywhere if you stood at the bar. The pointer-setter … Continue reading In the 1990s I worked in Italy

            Sunnah Khan The map of the world will not change if all the people of Gaza disappear from existence, and no one will ask about you. – Military leaflet drop Gaza Strip 2025 There are things you can capture and things you can’t. There is a small boy holding a toy gun full of water to his … Continue reading There Are Birds In The Sky

            James McDermott trimming my tash over the sink     felled hairsform into a blonde man’s clip-on ponytail heave it out the basin to chuck it buttwo ponytails     binned in there     like dead rats stagger to stairs to spot ten ponytailsone on each step down to the living room his armchair has a ponytail     TVmy crisp sandwich doesn’t have a hair … Continue reading Ponytails

            Kayleigh Jayshree My landlord emailed me a month ago and told meabout the dream he’d had. He said he was in chargeof all the houses in South East England. He hadthousands of emails to answer and could not hirean estate agent. None of the houses had mould. Theprices kept going down because of the government.He … Continue reading Contact