The Fox Fairy Appearances are deceiving. How do you know I’m not one of those women, with secrets. You know the kind – ones who take husbands – then slip out at night to run in the fields; dew wet and odorous after the passion, to hunt for mice. How do you know I don’t relish the crunch of small bones, the death snap, … Continue reading Two poems by Pey Pey Oh
Chasing Rainbows I am trekking in the arid centre where willy willies lift terracotta dust onto my skin to stick by sweat kilned by sun until I am claybound I used to get stuck in the same traffic jam at the same motorway junction every … Continue reading ‘Chasing Rainbows’ by Jill Abram
Dyslexia A hard thing to explain to an eight year old. How to lift from everything we know a clutch of truths by which he’ll be consoled. I keep to what it doesn’t mean, name the famous cases. Hard to answer no when he asks quietly, Are you the same? (from The Probabilities of Balance Smiths Knoll, 2010) Sun Dogs When … Continue reading Two poems by Stephen Payne
Resurrection After Stanley Spencer, `The Resurrection: Reunion of Families’ And suddenly they are streaming back from the dead, unburying themselves, their tombstones mere props for gossip now the final day has come. Only this is not the last day, but the first of an eternal summer where loss turns back into desire, for what can match the pleasure of a kiss on the … Continue reading Two poems by Rosie Jackson
My Dad painted by Francis Bacon Oxford Heart Centre – Critical Care Unit Someone off stage, drags him by the hair, his face smudged upwards – chin tilted, fish hooked lip, gumshield and tubes smeared left to right. Behind, digital blinks monitor oncoming strokes. I stare, eyes shut, open to a ballpoint click the curator is at my side, dressed as … Continue reading Two poems by Michael Scott
