The Poor Print

Issue #15 – Utopia

Pdfs of the print version of Issue #15 – Utopia – can be downloaded here: Issue #15 – Utopia Issue #15 – Utopia (‘Stories of Oxford’ insert)

Artwork

Eve Finnie’s oil painting, “Kitty and the TV”, was recently announced as the winner to Oriel College’s Gower Memorial Prize. She says, “This is a painting of my little sister (Kitty) doing various activities after school layered over each other from the point of view of the television, which was playing throughout the evening.” You can download […]

Artwork

Of Strange Folk and Monsters

Charlie Willis’ collection of black and white drawings was recently announced as a runner-up of Oriel College’s Gower Memorial Prize. She says, ‘My inspiration for these pictures was the work of Arthur Rackham and traditional European fairytales. In these photographs of my original drawings I wanted to convey a thoughtful stillness and a sense […]

Comment, Prose

Reconstructed Utopia

by Aidan Chivers In the latter part of the 1st C BC, the Emperor Augustus’ obsession with Roman sexual morality was based largely on drawing contrasts between the behaviour of his day and the perceived standards of former times. Seeing moral decline as being in parallel with wider national failings, he linked the greater chastity […]

Comment, Prose

Good Place, No Place

by Emma Gilpin When Thomas More wrote his Utopia in 1516, he described a society that was in many ways the polar opposite to his own, Tudor England. At the time, many critics believed he was writing an instructive text that could be read as a guideline for the improvement of European society. As we […]

Humour

Oriel Reacts to a Trump Presidency…

Eoin Monaghan [at 4am, on my entering the JCR] – ‘Go back to bed, Alex. The apocalypse has already happened.’ Wesley Rawlings – ‘This is far more than something new. Syphilis would be new for me – doesn’t mean that I want it. The American people have given the White House “the clap”.’ Will Cook […]

Comment, Prose

Relative Dystopia

by Christy Callaway-Gale In two separate incidents during the same week, my dad was mistaken for my boyfriend and my mum was mistaken for my grandma, which told me everything I didn’t want to know, yet already knew, about society. This is how a life-changing article on gender norms on the front page of the […]

Prose

An Unforeseen Path

by Samuel Irvine I wonder quietly down the winding, twisting road. I walk aimlessly, without purpose and with no destination. I travel alone, and even my shadow has left me. There is no end in sight. As I trudge along, I start to think. First, why am I here and what am I doing? I […]

Poetry

Christopher

by Tom Davy The ceiling splays a fresco for the crowds. The round Sheldonian, Truth lies on high And falls like words of Latin from the clouds Whose black betrays the turquoise of their sky. Time is not ours. So every stroke of brush That paints the ring paints every second too; We find ourselves […]

Culture, Prose

The Origins of Chaos, or the English Spelling Explained

by Anna Wawrzonkowska In 1992, Gerard Nolst Trenité, a Dutch academic and linguist, wrote his famous poem: the Chaos. It is, perhaps, the best summary of the helpless confusion any non-native speaker feels when put against the whirling maelstrom of English spelling and pronunciation. Dearest creature in creation Studying English pronunciation, I will teach you […]

Comment, Prose

My Perfect Life: A Careful and Complex Design

by Emma Gilpin The squares line up evenly and perfectly, forming a beautifully neat grid which I can scroll through, a photographic record of all the best moments of my life from the ages of 15 to 19. Four years of my little life, cherry picked to create a filtered reel of selected highlights. This […]

Poetry

Talking

by Lizzie Searle I am talking. Silently. I tap the little places on the screen with my thumbs. You’re there when I type, listening in my head. I have finished talking and look into your invisible face. You don’t say anything. You disappear from where you weren’t. I look back at my talking. Childish words […]

Poetry

Sky

by Lucy Mellor “Is the sky blue?” Said sarcastically – Analogous to “Is the Pope Catholic?” As though the Pope Changes his faith With sunrise And sunset. A mutiny of colours Largely unobserved Hang wistfully Waiting for acceptance Until time’s end – Rendering ordinary Each blue sky And white cloud. It’s getting colder […]

Print issues

Issue #14 – Design

A pdf of the print version of Issue #14 – Design – can be downloaded here: Issue #14 – Design

Poetry

Design of Her

Comment, Diary, Prose

Slow Travel: Conspiracy by Design?

by Tobias Thornes ‘Global warming? There ain’t no such thing! Didn’t y’ hear? That’s just a conspiracy cooked up by the Chinese. An’ the leftists. You’re a leftist, ain’t ye? Now you listen to me, mister. You leave all that clap-trap out o’ here. We’re done with commies, we’re done with Obama, now we’re goanna […]

Creative Writing, Prose

Talking Revolution Over Coffee

by Amanda Higgin Xanda and I sit in armchairs, chatting across a café table as the rain drizzles down the window beside us. The café is humid from drying coats, but we have been here long enough to have warmed up. “I’ve finally gotten into Hamilton,” I offer in a momentary quiet. “Congratulations!” Xanda smiles. […]

Artwork, Cartoon

Chauvinism

by Alex Waygood

Culture, Music, Prose

After the Rain: Album Review

by Jenny Potter It’s 5:15pm and we’re standing amongst rows of records, reeling in the late-summer-evening humidity and pretending to browse through DVDs. There are perhaps a dozen people scattered throughout the shop in the same state of pretence. Approximately twenty minutes later, Leftwich appears and we form a misshapen semi-circle around the corner where […]

Prose

Like A Rolling Stone

by Lucy Mellor “Looked in the mirror, I don’t know who I am anymore; The face is familiar, but the eyes, The eyes give it all away” -James, Out to Get You Everything I see touches me, and changes me in a million minute ways and refuses to let me be the same. No matter […]

Print issues

Issue #13 – Renewal

A pdf of the print version of Issue #13 – Renewal – can be downloaded here: Issue #13 – Renewal

Prose

A Way of Doing Things

by Charlie Willis Michael McManus had a way of doing things. He would get up at six minutes past eight o’clock no matter whether it were a Sunday or his birthday or a cold day in the depths of January. Sometimes, depending on the time of year of course, this meant that he was […]

Poetry

Magnets on renewal

by Callista McLaughlin

Prose

Auld Acquaintance

by Aidan Chivers As the heat of our idyllic nineteenth summer draws to its close, and gives out its final surge of warmth in a late September burst, it is inevitable that we should gather at the bar which featured so prominently in our last few years of school. Full of excitable, childish memories and […]

Comment, Diary, Prose

Slow Travel: A Voyage through Time

by Tobias Thornes Forgive me if I begin at the end. For the end is near, now: I can feel it in my bones. These my eyes, which looked upon so many of the world’s ancient wonders, have grown dim – like those wonders themselves, which one by one went out, melting like stars before […]

Prose

Renewal

by Christy Callaway-Gale It’s Sunday. Last Sunday. My entire bedroom is in our car, there’s a bike wheel next to my head and I have that unsettled, excited feeling as spires emerge overhead. Oriel helpers with their colourful t-shirts offer to carry my bags, both my parents cry as they say goodbye to me and […]

Poetry

Light

by Emma Gilpin Light Everything about you was light And I felt relief As you reached through the night Your smile so easy Your spirit so blithe You carried me to heaven As my paperweight body Turned suddenly, Joyously light

Poetry

Ceramic

by Tom Davy To the first term’s autumnal fog. Tears tumble off marooned cheeks That peek into new rooms, new curtains, Parted like families. Then there’s the names that fizz Like molecules around the hall, A mahogany pit of reaction After reaction After reaction. We’re all playing potters, Clay bridges between ourselves Form like the […]

Prose

The Poor Print needs you!

The Poor Print is Oriel College’s newspaper, publishing articles, creative writing, poetry, cartoons, artwork, photography, music – and anything else that is sent our way! If you’d like to contribute, send pieces in by email to thepoorprint@oriel.ox.ac.uk. Our first issue is based around the theme of ‘Renewal’, and the submission deadline is 23:59 Sunday 9/10. […]

Culture, Prose

‘When your dreams become reality’ – In Conversation with Will Tant

Will Tant, 1st year MPhil in Theology, comes to Oriel after a career in pro-surfing and as a professional model | Interviewed by Jacob Warn | Photo by Seth Stafford Surf’s Up Will’s surfing career began in Florida, where he would surf with his brother. By his sophomore year in high school, Will had made […]

Poetry

‘Goodbye to My Room, from My Radiator’

by Callista McLaughlin

Poetry

Fingertips

by Chloe Cheung fingertips warm lips— parting is such sweet—sorrow i say (dreams really do come true) icecold river dissolves past/present/future take me back now; rewind three years: tick, tock, tick, tock, tick … it’s not ‘goodbye’ my dear, but a promise that we’ll meet again—

Culture, Food & Drink, Prose

Food & Mood: A Poor Print Guide

by Jo Flynn Eating enough of the right foods can be difficult, especially during times of stress. We’re all quick to guzzle orange juice when we feel a cold coming on, but what can we eat to help mental health and mood? Deficiencies in certain vitamins and minerals have been found to be associated with […]

Prose

‘Goodbye’

by Lucy Mellor It was new and I was awakening Springing into life Vines of ivy intertwined The sun adored us And we basked in its glory; It won’t set on us. Defiance of nature The chill sets in I curl into myself Time for things to die Distance is a poison and I […]

Prose

Smoke and Mirrors (a short fiction)

by Charlie Willis They had a tiger at the circus. And when she wasn’t on stage inside the big red and yellow tent, she lay in a foul-smelling cage by the edge of the field, panting. The girl didn’t believe in tigers. A black and orange cat as big as a horse? It was absurd. […]

Comment, Diary, Prose

Slow Travel: The End of the Road?

by Tobias Thornes In the midst of the unimaginably vast, empty expanse that is the surface of the Pacific Ocean – the thin, glittering film across which we have slid for nearly a month – the first, precious sighting of land feels like the fulfilment of one’s every hope and dream. For days I have […]

Artwork, Cartoon, Comment

The EU Referendum – a cartoon

Prose

Bells’ End

by Jenny Potter Awaken me on Sunday morning Chiming for an hour or two And once you pause, I think you’re waning, You begin to toll anew. What’s the time? Who knows? Who cares? The occasion? We need none. Each time you catch me unawares And torment me until you’re done. You’re hungover? What […]

Prose

‘Goodbye’

by Luke Sheridan I said goodbye to a friend today. A mirror. A rainforest well of the same unknown depth. A crystal cave undrained by men with ropes and suits. Unvisited by the thousand eyes Devouring the monthly publications Extolling the great wonder of the hidden Deep, displaying in photographs ‘untouched’ nature with a Proud […]

Interview, Prose

An Interview with John Simpson CBE

A few weeks ago, BBC Foreign Correspondent John Simpson give the Ascension Day sermon in Oriel Chapel. The Poor Print’s political correspondent, William McDonald, caught up with Mr Simpson before the service. Comfortably ensconced in an armchair, John Simpson looks rather like most other septuagenarians. But his kind smile and rugged features disguise a steely […]