Gabrielle Tse but poison’s such a common, common sin,            bottles under housewives’ gleaming sinkspour like humdrum secrets down the drain            or pour to kill — we turn aside to agreesuch killing is normal, as calendars or tiled kitchenettes            not at all like what we doin the dark. breathing behind glass,             little enemy, more perfect than a set of … Continue reading Poison dart frog in glass enclosure

            Mark Waldron Untitled There were occasions when I’d lose track of the fly. High and low I’d search for him. Perhaps he’d flown off to have some me-time. Perhaps he’d gone to the park to feast upon its stemless brown flowers with their pedigree bouquets. Sometimes I’d think I’d found him. A fly would alight … Continue reading Two Poems

            Ramya Yandava There are so many nice posters to be hadand things environmentally friendly to replace balloons.There are coasters and toasters, bothdelightful. One comes in so many shapes, sizes, and colors!The other is magic and does things to bread.For people who like sports, there are so many of them.For people who like art, there are … Continue reading Posters

            Fiona Tracey Lately, I always feel worse for having spoken,and think those monks with the vow of silence must be onto something. On Tuckey Street,the builders listen to Lana Del Rey like they’re afraid they’ll never again know the touch of a woman,and for our part, us girls check our horoscopes faithfully each week in … Continue reading Almost Forgivable People

            Rosamund Taylor The thumps, like someone putting up shelves, have me scurrying down the hall. A starling in my office somersaults into walls. I open my windows as wide as they’ll go, close the door. Lean against it, listening. Nothing. Sound of my heart. A hush in the air suggesting rainso fine it barely glosses the bin lids. All sorts … Continue reading Upstanding Citizens

            Sarah Meehan Short-sighted. Relies on its glasses.Brings close the trees. Can’t get them into focus. Tilts the lenses side to side. Catches a blur of bird.Rubs the glass with a leaf cloth.Spreads the smudge.Brings close the cloudssmeared to mist. Misses the duck heading for it,having found a place to splash-land its jet.Smash!Picks through the shards,piecing them together,librarian mending a silence. Brings … Continue reading River

            Sarah Meehan A woman burying secrets in the mountains,weeping while she works. A woman walking home  through the fields,feeling the chill of a clear night and laying out a blanket.  An old woman,too weak to lift the clouds. A short woman who has lost her ladder.  A woman with sleep in her voice,whispering at dusk.  A woman in a white dressgrazing her ghosts. … Continue reading Who Brings the Mist

            Heather Hughes The only time I remember him talking to mewas when he was teaching me how to fight.I see the living room’s lamps - golden as honey.A baked potato on the table, crumbled like a cloud. Arms outstretched. My little fist a baby joeynext to his. He pointed to his thumb, sayingit’s important to … Continue reading My Father was a Fist

            Oliver Carmichael in the end I fear coming home            to a single room                                         empty                           but for a chair laid on its back            as if a wind —            as if someone seeing something                           through the window                                         had suddenly stood up — Oliver Carmichael lives in County Durham. He is the winner of the 2024 Winchester Poetry Prize and the 2024 Aurora Prize for … Continue reading Single

            Liz Byrne The magic of the iron as it nosesits hot way into wrinkles, leavesbehind a wake of smoothnessand the hiss of steam and smell of hot cotton, like making new,undoing mistakes or soothing a crying child with long, slow strokes of the hand – and I’m a teenager, walking the dog,hiding in the park while franticpreparations happen at … Continue reading Ironing