by Leo Gillard ‘Ready?’ Arthur asked, his eyes fixed on the building in front of them. It was… small. The garden was covered in weeds, the grass overgrown, leaves still on the ground from autumn. The house itself was built of red brick, a squat-looking bungalow with shuttered windows, the blue paint of the door […]
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by Martin Yip The Chinese writing system is one of the most beautiful currently in use. Compared to alphabets, whose characters are phonographic (meaning they represent sounds), Chinese characters are logographic: each character represents a word or phrase. The result is a system that elegantly condenses information, and rich in aesthetic value. Around two millennia […]
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by Beary McBearface Beary McBearface, treasured Oriel mascot and JCR staple, is here to help you with your troubles. In this column, Beary will attempt to find solutions to your little college worries; trust him, he’s seen it all. All you need to do is email thepoorprint@oriel.ox.ac.uk with the subject line ‘Dear Beary’, and if you’re lucky your […]
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by Monim Wains Crisp air blows at my hands and ears; spring breaks from winter. Some days that chill and others that mellow. Freshness surrounds me now; everything filtered with a screen of sunlight behind the clouds. The green grass is shaded a slight yellow, as if the air is coloured warm. My legs are […]
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by Monim Wains
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by Zixin Jiang Having come to law from a background in philosophy, I’m sometimes asked which of the two I like better. The two are similar, e.g. they both test a combination of logical and verbal skills. I find both very interesting. Philosophy can be very abstract sometimes, whereas law has a more obvious practical […]
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by David Asamoah A thousand suns had come and gone before himWhat made this one so special? So enchanting That even now he’d sit and wait adoring The golden light shine on the stream, and dancing Pebbles swirl in the low tide returning To kiss the worn out coast. On that still morning The sky […]
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by David Asamoah Their dark thoughts are eclipsed by blinding love For her sweet soul, it’s all their hearts can see As martyr’s sights are fixed on realms above And reason dies to set their chained thoughts free There’s no shame in that trip to martyrdom As in their wills, for her their hearts have […]
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by Michael Angerer The self-described dark comedy You Are Frogs, put on by Practically Peter Productions, is above all a baffling play: perhaps the most baffling theatrical experience to come out of this term. Having ascended the steps up to the Burton Taylor studio, the unsuspecting playgoer intrudes into the depressingly bright-coloured kitchen of two frogs, […]
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by Atinuke Olu-Lutherking The silver streaks in her hair glistened in the white light. I stared into her kola-nut coloured eyes. Her delicate wrinkles softened as she smiled. I couldn’t help but grin at her. She couldn’t help but smile at me. Life was sweet. The door creaked open. A woman strolled in. Suddenly, the […]
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by Monim Wains I am a ghost in the machine. I am not you, and you are not me. Each of us is unique, different, maybe even special, in our own special way. We are all the results of our actions and thoughts, dreams and regrets, and every single one of us is a sole […]
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by Harriet Strahl While walking in the park and reading the names engraved on the wooden benches along the path, I realized that there are not many things that Plato, Descartes and most religions agree upon. One of these rare beliefs is the immortality of the soul. Science has not yet even proven the existence […]
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by Tom Saer My back in plasters, heading back. I find some swans three years ago, they start to turn around my ears. I saw the other world in water trees, the ripple spreads, its secondary eyes are open. Close and open irises to me, reflection past the open tree. Someone must have taken out […]
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by Zixin Jiang Why is it said that the eyes are windows to the soul? One common interpretation is that our eyes reveal our innermost thoughts and emotions. There’s probably some truth to that; a person’s eyes can sometimes reveal whether they are lying, or faking a smile. However, a seasoned orator may be able […]
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by Michael Angerer The need to identify the essential being of all things, the underlying truth hidden behind superficial appearances, seems to be an irresistible impulse; it is in any case certain that the concept of a soul, or a psyche, is among the oldest known to humanity, and among the most widespread. And yet, […]
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A PDF of the print version of Issue #41 – Soul – can be downloaded here.
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by Beary McBearface Beary McBearface, treasured Oriel mascot and JCR staple, is here to help you with your troubles. In this column, Beary will attempt to find solutions to your little college worries; trust him, he’s seen it all. All you need to do is email thepoorprint@oriel.ox.ac.uk with the subject line ‘Dear Beary’, and if you’re lucky your […]
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by Monim Wains Bandages is not a play that covers up or protects. It is designed to rip off the mask and question you directly. With an intense and emotional exploration of control, image, abuse and violence, Bandages will leave you genuinely disturbed and uncomfortable, which is exactly what it wants to do. The clearly heartfelt issues […]
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by Monim Wains A highlight of life for all that tried Everyone older remembered their ride ‘The best time of your life’, they sighed It looked so good every time I walked by Everyone getting off with a glint in their eye A hundred crazy stories that I wanted to try If only I could, […]
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by Juliet Butcher varium et mutabile semper femina (Aeneid IV.569-70) Whistle-wet and wind-whipped and smarting with salt, the air bursts lungs – clean lungs, lungs clear and full – and cuts, slicing quick across face, stinging stiff and garrotte-sharp like the cords of a ship, as she stands on the citadel and watches. Gleaming sky […]
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‘It’s nice to chat with students, and we all like them’ Interview conducted by Michael Angerer Ellie, from Rome, is known to most students as one of the friendliest faces in hall, which also happens to be one of her favourite places in College. She enjoys reading, going to the cinema, eating out, and drawing; […]
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A PDF of the print version of Issue #40 – Desire – can be downloaded here.
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by Tom Saer You, kissing in the daylight Toothless puzzle pieces Telling every dog of the world to heal Come and see, songs and voices in the bowl which I found once my eyes were closed, come and see the rest of everything along with me. Hand me over to the times when you smile, […]
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by Leo Gillard He’d always been the object of desire. Not… not always in the way he was now, of course, but people had always wanted something. And they felt like they could get it from him, or because of him. When he’d been young, it had been about power. Then again, maybe it was […]
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by David Asamoah Potent’s the fruit of poisonous affection Yet so fragrant a scent it does possess Love’s filter warps old flaws to new perfection Augments mere brushes to a soft caress Such passion feeds upon the human mind As hearth embers devoùr firewood And of the ripened dreams Eros does find He then extorts […]
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by Martin Yip In Hong Kong there is a saying that there are five things every university student should do: that is, study, date, live in halls, join committees of clubs and societies, and work part-time. Some might conform to this apparent social norm and desire to do all five, as if that would affirm […]
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by Beary McBearface Beary McBearface, treasured Oriel mascot and JCR staple, is here to help you with your troubles. In this column, Beary will attempt to find solutions to your little college worries; trust him, he’s seen it all. All you need to do is email thepoorprint@oriel.ox.ac.uk with the subject line ‘Dear Beary’, and if […]
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by Zixin Jiang Of all the songs we sing at Oriel Chapel, nothing makes me feel like a hypocrite quite like this line does: ‘Like as the hart desireth the waterbrooks, so longeth my soul after thee, O God.’ ‘Lord, have mercy’? I can sing that. ‘It is right to give Him thanks and praise’? […]
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A PDF of the print version of Issue #39 – Tradition – can be downloaded here.
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by Monim Wains I was born green, but thrown into red, white and blue. Two tsunami waves crashing into a grey ten-tonne wall. Tall and loud, rushing and gushing with full force right at me. Two oceans, continent-sized, pushing into each other. A ridge of mountains right between my lungs. You must stay home, says […]
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by Monim Wains Perhaps the most comprehensive definition of tradition is the idiom in the title of this article; tradition is nothing but old habits that refuse to stay in the past where they first began. Of course, this sounds quite critical. With the constant need for change and improvement in the world, old habits […]
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by Zixin Jiang At Oriel Choir this term, we are trying to revive (or rather, revive the enforcement of) the tradition of wearing cassocks (those red things we wear) during rehearsals before a service. I knew this was something we were supposed to do, but I never really knew why. Apparently, the point is to […]
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by Michael Angerer Modernity is the central tenet of our age, which likes to classify itself as ‘post-modern’, ‘post-colonial’, and ‘post-truth’; we tend to look upon tradition as stuffy, out-dated, and generally irrelevant to what our everyday lives should be. As you might have guessed from the presence of this column, however, there is far […]
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by Beary McBearface Beary McBearface, treasured Oriel mascot and JCR staple, is here to help you with your troubles. In this column, Beary will attempt to find solutions to your little college worries; trust him, he’s seen it all. All you need to do is email thepoorprint@oriel.ox.ac.uk with the subject line ‘Dear Beary’, and if […]
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by Tom Saer I found some orange peel, carrot peel, on the pavement, left for Chester Burnett… Peeling off the snow from a branch I leave it to fall over me. My hands, a change, a pretty Sun in them, press on the snowman’s belly, he collapsed before I got there; he was rigid, the […]
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by Michael Angerer As you step into the small dark space of the Burton Taylor Studio to watch Selma Dimitrijevic’s Gods Are Fallen And All Safety Gone, you enter a strangely surreal place: a place in which all eyes rest on two similar figures who sit facing each other, silently staring each other down. The […]
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A PDF of the print version of Issue #38 – Revolution – can be downloaded here.
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by Beary McBearface Beary McBearface, treasured Oriel mascot and JCR staple, is here to help you with your troubles. In this column, Beary will attempt to find solutions to your little college worries; trust him, he’s seen it all. All you need to do is email thepoorprint@oriel.ox.ac.uk with the subject line ‘Dear Beary’, and if […]
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by Francis Judd
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The Poor Print 