Movement My grandmother standing on a West Ireland pier trying not wanting to take it all in the Atlantic both the linctus and the tall dark man pushing it to her My grandmother feeling as young as she is with the odour of rope and the spit of birds ripe to distil in the pits of these kids’ hopes and memories My grandmother … Continue reading Two poems by Humphrey Astley
25B the bear’s leg scorched a bronze bolt on black fur too close yr grandaughter’s heart reduced to menthol cinders scented jumpers chanel factoids &breathe standing in the shadow of a yellow fiesta for anti-climb read anti cry read girly anti social the awkward silence … Continue reading Three poems by Sarah Crewe
A Real Poem – 1. In love, there are times where unprecedented things happen. I’ll just say it here: I have never been to battle, but I battle every day. We speak a part. Studies show this. We speak a part, as we are made of parts. We are partly made of mothers. 2. There’s only two moments in a life, but I … Continue reading Two poems by Leah Umansky
Perfection B.C. (Before Cancer): SATURDAY, 1ST AUGUST Graceful necks of wilting gold, Dry grass sleeps upon the breeze; My daughters fine white hair, Like cotton thread, lifts, A cube of hissing morning Bleeding through us. In this field I invented summer When I was cotton like her, And from here all ensuing summers broke, Perfected in her warmth. ______________ Mortality A.D. (After … Continue reading Extract from a sequence by Greg Gilbert
The Cloud of Unknowing There, it is done. We have built squarely in the dross of the land a place of worship for our Lord. It took years to sand the stone, make flush the lines. But, really, we were shaping our own misshapen lives. Scrape mud before you enter, be clean. Embolden yourself—look up, look up! The columns involve you, all perpendicular, … Continue reading Two poems by Richard Skinner
Poem in which there are hooves Greg, gently mashing the keys of a Steinway. Or Greg, brow furrowed, struggling to grasp a toothbrush, album, cup. Now Greg in bed: listen for the unconsolable clop that comes each night before his prayers. Unhappy Greg, remembering the touch of things, people. His mother’s face. Has he not suffered? Has he not served his time? Then … Continue reading Two poems by Tristram Fane Saunders
Not there, nearly This cream blackthorn warm of morning is the hour to be patching the cattle trailer with squint squares of corrugated tin and new rivets. The air is lamb-bleat soft. Away up the lane go steady hoofbeats, clip of iron to stone, the horse-pace laid in layers over the land. A tawny owl flies in daylight, has the wrong century. Wings … Continue reading Three poems by Jean Atkin
It began when you opened your desk and found everything gone, replaced with sand. You opened the wooden pencil case your brother had made and it contained nothing but sand. Next, your books filled with sand and the words began to wear away. Your homework was late because sand ate the sums and solutions. Study time vanished in to the time it had … Continue reading ‘Sand’ by Jane Commane
Translating Mountains from the Gaelic A pebble on the tongue – my clumsy mouth stumbles their meanings: I mumble Beinn Laoghail to Ben Loyal, Beinn Uais to Ben Wyvis, humble Beinn Artair from King Arthur’s Hill to The Cobbler – turn Bod an Deamhain from Demon’s Penis to Devil’s Point, stammer on An Teallach with its rearing anvils and arduous spelling, my throat … Continue reading Two poems by Yvonne Reddick
Just This One Art. 33. No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited. The Fourth Geneva Convention When someone says “Think about the bigger picture,” I hide. My life has the legs of an ant. I find the resilience of pebbles … Continue reading Two poems by Jim Pascual Agustin
