by Tobias Thornes ‘Hotel,’ said the border official, pointing to the place I’d left blank on the form. I must have looked conspicuously European as I waited amidst the queues of Malaysians to cross into Thailand, for almost at once he had come and beckoned me into a side office. Britons, as I knew, did […]
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by Alex Waygood. I read the minutes, so you don’t have to. Welcome to ‘Oriel News’, The Poor Print’s new fortnightly roundup of everything big that’s going down in college. As the rust has been scraped from the gears of the Oxford machine and Oriel life has restarted, students could be forgiven for thinking that it […]
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by Amanda Higgin Xanda and I sit at a coffee-shop table, making towers out of sugar cubes. I’ve lost two rounds, Xanda’s lost one and we’re currently drawing with four-high towers. Then, as she carefully places the fifth piece on her stack, it wobbles and scatters across the table. ‘A-ha!’ I laugh maniacally. ‘Things fall […]
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An original composition for piano, by Chris Hill. Download the score here.
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by Shay Vera-Cruz It has a sound: the wide solitude of gravity in the breath between one star & the next. imagine suns, scarce […]
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by Michael Angerer In the beginning was the Fall: drawn down by the implacable forces of nature, down tumbled the apple and down tumbled humanity, Adam, Eve, Newton and all. Ever since, we have looked upwards in expectation of that which is beyond and above our mundane existence: divine inspiration, the fire of Mount Olympus, […]
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by Tom Davy Simmonds is on the stage for Whiplash, a film about drumming and abuse. The academy is giving him a thing which entails the usual sing song about the wife and the crew and sometimes the kids and some trite account of charity and, in the same breath, Hollywood fondlers with some charming […]
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by Michael Angerer Change is best seen in hindsight. We may sometimes foresee, forewarn and foresuffer all, but the truth is that Tiresias was very much an isolated case; people seldom look forward and say: ‘How time will fly!’ We cannot even hold to the now, the here, because the future does not plunge perceptibly […]
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A pdf of the print version of Issue #22 – Shift – can be downloaded here: Issue #22 – Shift
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by Alex Waygood. Mixed media: pen and pencil on paper.
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by Caroline Ball Pomegranate seeds Are turning the leaves to red Again, my dear one.
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by Alexander Walls Change: our somehow, sometime, supine constant. A force as old and great as time itself, A force to turn our worn out world, a force Which can ne’er be avoided, nor need be. For though we strive to conserve what matters, Change itself cares not what’s left in tatters. The tree which […]
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by Joe Gardiner: an MS Paint sketch of the two Executive Editors from 2016-17, and the three taking over the role in 2017-18. Left to right: Christopher Hill, Joanna Engle, Tom Davy, Aidan Chivers, Alex Waygood.
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by Teofil Camarasu We have a fake news problem. Every week sees a new slew of articles on the ongoing epidemic. Some report on its destructive spread as it conquers country after country, swinging elections and referenda on its way, all the while heralding the start of a new Post-Truth era. Others prescribe remedies to […]
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by Aidan Chivers As I awake in strange and foreign bed And on my face French sunlight gently falls, I look for my own room around my head But find myself between uncertain walls. My eyes, in earnest, dart around and seek With puzzlement a trace of something known – They chance upon some words […]
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by Amanda Higgin Xanda and I sit in my new room in college, catching up on our vacations while the kettle boils. We both agree that the increase in floor space is nice, but my view has downgraded from the cherry tree outside St Mary’s to the college’s exterior wall, with its brick patchwork of […]
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by Tobias Thornes I have now, in the course of some twenty-one instalments, related to you most of the adventures that awaited me on setting out, so many years ago now it seems like another Age, in the spring of 2018 on my long journey of Slow Travel. Many miles I ventured by foot or […]
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by Emma Gilpin Shifting from one language to another feels strange. It feels almost like I have more than one personality, as if there is a strange sort of discord between my English and German speaking selves. I have always loved words, which is why I chose to study languages in the first place. But, […]
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by Tom Saer Now I’m ready to remember All those times in which we thought We’d never see the light of day My brothers, wrong we were to feel That we’d forgotten what she taught Now don’t be shy Do we know how best to reel the fish in From the northern sky? In the […]
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A diary from Oriel Choir Tour 2017, by Alex Waygood. Featured image supplied by Matthew Hull. Tuesday, 27 June Far too early Wake up. Persuade myself that, yes, I did need to set the alarm this early. Lie in wait outside the bathroom so I can use the shower. There’s a queue – Lizzie kindly […]
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Poetry and Photography by Christopher Hill I wonder about the tree in third quad. I wonder how many students have seen it grow. How many fresh-from-school students. How many just-back-from-Chequers students. How many off-to-first-lecture students. How many starting-to-miss-home students. How many new-term-new-me students. How many just-five-more-minutes students. How many rushing-off-to-lecture students. How many swatting-for-next-collections students. […]
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by Tom Davy I sit with a bear on a sofa. He tells me of his troubles; The drunkards who stormed in at night Just some months ago: asking for toast, Sipping at tea. ‘None for me, of course’, Or so I’d imagine he’d say In his supine, wordless way. In truth, I was one […]
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by Lucy Mellor Dr Allan Chapman FRAS is a fellow of Wadham College and member of the Oxford University History Faculty, where he specialises in teaching the history of science. He lectures at many institutions across the country, has presented numerous television programmes, and written several popular books. A fascinating man with an unrivalled knowledge […]
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A pdf of the print version of Issue #21 – ‘Growth’ – can be downloaded here: Issue #21 – Growth
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by Tobias Thornes The winter’s freeze was beginning to thaw as I made my way south: into the Heart of Asia. This was the land where Russia and China meet: a large, land-locked expanse surrounded by its powerful neighbours, the mythical heart of an infamous ancient Empire that was the largest contiguous power the world […]
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by Alice Correia Morton Avocados are the hipster ingredient du jour, present at every brunch and scattered over every instagrammed salad. But even if you’d usually steer clear of such fads, avocados still hold their own: they are highly nutritious, with over 20 vitamins and minerals, and a filling centrepiece for vegetarians and vegans. Unfortunately, […]
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by Alexander Walls The year is at an end and we must ask: What has been done, achieved, maintained, or lost. To answer this could be an easy task – These things have been achieved, but at what cost? Astounded by developments I stand; I have witnessed such certain selfishness Yet also acts of great […]
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by James Page In the darkness, they fed upon each other. Coiling and writhing in the depths, the spot of sunlight moving down one wall and up the other, grazing their faces for a minute a day and then passing on. The smaller looked to the larger, and planned its next move. He turned briefly […]
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by Amanda Higgin Xanda and I have been having a conversation about our respective literary collections, wandering together around University Parks after having lunch in town. As an English Literature degree student, Xanda is obliged to have a huge collection of books of impressive quality; as an English Literature A-leveller I choose to have a […]
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A pdf of the print version of Issue #20 – ‘Bodies’ – can be downloaded here: Issue #20 – Bodies
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by Tobias Thornes Like a great, central artery, the Trans-Siberian Railway sweeps right across the vast expanse of Russia the giant. From Vladivostok in the East to Moscow in the West, through snowy plains and forested mountains, crossing countless streams with names unknown to travellers overwhelmed by so great a swiftly sweeping, vanishing array, it […]
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by Charlie Willis Her Uncle Ronnie had found them. He came to their front door on that rainy winter’s evening cradling a bundle of ragged clothes. They were in the other room watching television when they heard the knock echo out into the hall. Her mother groaned, and summoned just enough energy to lift up […]
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by Kryssa Burakowski The cultural fingerprints of the Austro-Hungarian Empire can still be found all over Zagreb, a city that was under the rule of the Habsburg monarchy for centuries. Its mark can be clearly seen in the traces of the fin-de-siècle Vienna Secession movement across Zagreb. Croatian architects of the period, many of […]
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by Max Schwiening The Build Start your training off very easy, you should be able to talk while running. Make your runs as short as they need to be to be able to train every day. Try to make the total distance for the week increase each week – aim for around a 10% increase, […]
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by Aidan Chivers As I wait for my train I watch thoughts and strangers roam In two centuries of litter where I stop and bathe my mind; I trace the seats, the tracks, the stars, to see, or maybe find A moment for myself in this place they’ve all called home. I step across […]
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The following piece contains scenes which may be distressing for some readers. The noise is muted. It’s just a buzzing dull throbbing in the back of my head that I can ignore. The hand, however, is a problem. The hand is what your eyes are drawn to, what your heart palpitates on seeing clench and […]
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by Alice Correia Morton This isn’t strictly from the reduced section of the supermarket, but this week courgettes are bizarrely cheap in Tesco (4 medium for 79p or 60p). After the recent shortage and hike in price, this might come as a pleasant surprise. Although simple, omelettes are both filling and, since this one includes […]
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by Emma Gilpin ‘Self-care’ and ‘self-love’ have become everyday terms, a revolt against a society which tells us, constantly, that we are not quite enough. Inevitably, there are those who criticise and mock this self-care movement: the idea that people should spend time looking after and taking time for themselves can seem strange or uncomfortable […]
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by Jonathon Yeung I was barely a year old on June 30th, 1997. In the final hours before China regained sovereignty at midnight, the last governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, gave his farewell address on a windswept stage in the heart of the city. Amidst the pouring rain, he offered a message of hope, […]
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by Jennifer Potter Clutching at cold tea, Recalling regurgitated emotion. A toast to our former selves, Sipping to transfer sentiment, Ease past pain. Each taste transporting to a coffee shop Artificially lit: maroon and sawdust and stilted conversation With a cup cradled in my hands like a shield, Anticipating effort echoing in emptiness. Every swallow […]
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The Poor Print 