Tasting Note for Grief #17 after Do Ho Suh’s Staircase 3 Long and complex on the palate rage attacks the tastebuds, a territorial robin whose wings coruscate the epiglottis, insidious as rust in a cut. Her jaw has started to clamp. Remembering is a port wine stain. Similes are useless on this red staircase that … Continue reading ‘Tasting Note for Grief #17’ by Karen McCarthy Woolf
Category: Poetry
‘Celeriac Heart’ by Simon Barraclough
Celeriac Heart sits knobbly in the fridge with my lungs and ribs. I don’t know what to do with it. Peel it, dice it, boil it, mash it, serenade it with razor strings of mandolin? It goes off. It’s binned. Next time I’ll search for recipes online. (from Neptune Blue (Salt 2011). See … Continue reading ‘Celeriac Heart’ by Simon Barraclough
‘The Parting’ by Hilda Sheehan
The Parting He was an old bloke. Not a bloke looking young for his age, or one to hide lovers in the village away from a kitchen wife, or make up stories down the local pub to a crowd of mates. He was alone; you don’t dress in green crimplene trousers with off-white grubby … Continue reading ‘The Parting’ by Hilda Sheehan
A poem by Brian Evans-Jones
Models Here is a man, in a photograph naked. I do not know him; nonetheless I admire and praise his flesh. Wide shoulders. Smooth, cool biceps. His hint of power held diffidently, but certainly held. The soft worm of the penis, sleeping. His black hair. Coupled thighs. All this I admire: he is, above … Continue reading A poem by Brian Evans-Jones
A poem by Helen Ivory
Of Rocks and Pebbles: A Lesson in Geography We have noted temperature during mountain range formation can rise to such high levels that rocks begin to melt into granitic magma but this will rarely reach the surface of the earth. We have drawn for you a schematic section through a volcano noting the … Continue reading A poem by Helen Ivory
‘The Irish Slave’ by Ian Duhig
It is the Night of Power and the puppeteers are playing Kara Guez, Martyr to Chastity. Nubian Grooms are breaking cameleopards. Janissaries reline their cloaks with lynx fur. Sultan Mahmoud shows off his new French wife on a caïque drawn by jewelled fish. These fan the Bosphorus like a wedding train with an … Continue reading ‘The Irish Slave’ by Ian Duhig
A poem by Stephen Boyce
Two Step Your footfall on the roof tiles is no more than the skittering of starlings, jackdaws pecking at lichen. What are you doing up there among pincushions of moss, in the night air? I reach for you wanting to lift you up cradle you as you let the hammer drop, moonlight shimmering where … Continue reading A poem by Stephen Boyce
A poem by Katrina Naomi
Charlotte Brontë’s Corset I’m sorry Charlotte for this disservice. Of course, your corset is discoloured, these padded cups no longer coral pink. Strips of whale plunge the depths of your bodice, the slightly rusty metal strip grips from breastbone to wasp-waist. I feel like a tabloid reporter, sniffing around the armholes of your life. … Continue reading A poem by Katrina Naomi
‘The Machine Shop Broadmoor Hospital’ by Martin Figura
The Machine Shop Broadmoor Hospital Frank at work, hanging smoke, yellow light, the noise of hammers, hot dust in his throat. Engine Lathe Operations and Controls The pleasure of precision, of calibration tools, the cool shine of gauge wheels. The spindle rotates in both directions. The tail stock can be positioned along the ways … Continue reading ‘The Machine Shop Broadmoor Hospital’ by Martin Figura
A poem by Tania Hershman
Moss The moss of his skin began to grow on the surface of mine and then in bed tiny daisy heads fell on the pillow between us. Moss was first published in Alba, A Journal of Short Poetry. Tania Hershman is the author of two short story collections and has only just … Continue reading A poem by Tania Hershman
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