Poetry – The Poor Print

In Paradisum

by Jerric Chong In paradisum deducant te Angeli: They come now, those harbingers so bright, In tuo adventu suscipiant te Martyres, Beckoning thee at the celestial gate: Et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem. ’Tis at unity with itself; gladly go thou in. But O what glories shalt thou then behold? Chorus Angelorum te suscipiat, […]

Poetry

Hourglass

by Leonard Shaw Alas! You know only the simple ways:For such a man the days fly and flitterFrom one week to the next,Till the term, the year, the life is o’er. Upon a passing fancy in the street or in a carriage,One can only wonder surely when the next may come to be.And yet the […]

Poetry

Lonely Bean

by Anonymous Lo! what a life for you, little bean,Left upon the plate otherwise so empty.You are so round and your juices so sweet,And yet your master let you not enter his lips. Wherefore did such a thing occur, little bean?Was your master in a rush for a 9am class?Or were you too much effort […]

Poetry

Do you know

by Ayomikun Bolaji I dream of you — Damned sandman won’t stop spilling seeds about you.He knows that I yearn for you, breathe for you.The tugging in my heart’s apparently a hot topic in fairylandBut You have no idea what I’d give for you,Mountains I’d climb for you,Poems I could write for you- Rhyming ‘you’ with ‘you’ […]

Poetry

Words left [unsaid]

by Anonymous You say I can ask you anything,But not this: If love does not envy,Why do I? I ask though I know The answer. Your love is not meant for A lesser love, worthy of heaven but not earth,Heaven, where I’ll be made perfect,Cleansed of my sins, of the shardsOf the home I would have […]

Poetry

Ode to Nick Fletcher MP

by The Grey Prince O what have we become,God of grace divine,When children on computers,In simulation, yearn for the mines? O what have we become?From the Lord’s path we stray,The shops once fifteen miles,Now fifteen minutes away. O what have we become,Blessed holy Lamb of God?The sky is far too clear;I miss the warming smog. […]

Poetry

University Bed

by Siddiq Islam,(1:48 am) Slumped on the hard edge of a long day,My tired arms spindle like crusty crab’s legs.My brain has dried out by now of things to say,Poking around at what’s left of the dregs. Tried eating, the heating, unplugging the buzzes,Tried not to feel through the weak mattress the springs,And I tried […]

Poetry

Woof

by Anonymous Oh, how I envy the common woman,Free to let herself roam,Walking the world and its streets,Dogs out; feeling for a bone. But I cannot join her, this woman,On her quest to free her toes.Alas, I must keep them hidden.Hidden from friends and foes. For you see, gentle reader,With your sumptuous, brittle talons,I cannot […]

Poetry

C

by The Grey Prince Under that pernicious smileA gouda grin,To look upon your eyes,I am blacksticks blue,I long to be camembert,Shared together,My heart crumbles as Cornish cheddar,To chew on those delightful digits,Five counties,Jealously guarded by a leather cage,Doc Martens.

Poetry

Stolen Moments of Pedestrian Desire in the Radcliffe Camera

by Anonymous To the girl across from me in the Rad Cam:You know well who you are;You thought I missed your quiet looks,But I hold them in my heart. ‘Maybe he’ll Oxfess me! Or pass a note –He’d have to be adroit!’No doubt you’re thinking, or daydreaming.I’m sorry to disappoint … ‘A Maccies date, then, […]

Creative Writing, Poetry, Prose

Lapworth Megaloceros

by Siddiq Islam Lapworth. Megaloceros. Hanging on the wall like a giant freak.There’s something intense about all this debris,The coloured rocks and the dead fish in the cupboards. I’d hate to end up like them some day. Dusty. Preserved.Maybe I’d enjoy the attention,The little kids’ fingerprints on my glass,The bright museum lights washing over me. […]

Poetry

So Mad Was I

by Siddiq Islam I’d heard of His trials and temptations before, butHe didn’t just leave them out, peppered around.He crammed my tongue full with them, muzzled my jaws shutAnd tilted my head back to make them go down.So mad was I. This was the God I had followed,Lifting my tongue up to check that I’d […]

Poetry

Permanence

by S. Hardaker limbs and flower stems seem oddly similar,branching and stretching and aching in their own ways;growing pains, a reminder of maturing. my legs are slowly giving way.i am 11,i am 15. i have stopped growing now,the legs say,you are stuck like this. the wind changed.a gust could whisk petals away,start a new bed. […]

Poetry

On Second Thoughts,

by Siddiq Islam that thing I had planned to dowas probably not that great of an ideaanyways. Silly concoctions of the mindbreak away,biscuit crumbs soakingin the Earl Grey of common sense. ‘Swap unrealitiesfor sturdy, long-term investments,’ they tell me.‘Just like crypto!’On second thoughts, maybe not … And on third thoughts, swim in it.Drown and laugh […]

Poetry

Burying Things

‘He plunges a fist / Of lupin bulb into the soil’s dark skin…’

Poetry

Forever Part of Me

by O Collopy I always think it’s getting betterBut then something triggers a memory:A phrase or photo in my mind,Then the shockwaves retaliate. Months of progress gone to waste,Or just trying to move on in haste?Is this how I’m supposed to heal?If only I could hear how you feel! My deepest desires long for beforeTruly […]

Poetry

I Have No Scars

by Ayomikun Bolaji I searched my body for scarsFigured I’d write about how I got them Take a flight down memory laneTalk about how I fought through the painProudly flex my badge of honourFrom that one time I climbed a towerOr something … I don’t have anyScars, I don’t have any scarsAt least no major […]

Poetry

We’ll Have a Love Like

by Siddiq Islam we’ll have a love likeslow indie moviestwo stubborn youths withno cares or duties we’llkiss on the street andlaugh on the bus they’llnot say a word they’llnot bother us we’llsteal mother’s blankets gobeneath them in the library we’llpretend we’re working hard but we’re justgiggling under quietlyyou’ll bake me bowls of pasta andi’ll write […]

Poetry

Hereafter

by Joe Lever When Keats had fears that he may cease to be,Alone to night he turned, to shore in thoughtThose thoughts against the nothingness – and heResolved to unhand all he wrote and wrought. Still, he lives on; and now I take his placeIn thinking, fearing, knowing that my beingHere is but an accident […]

Artwork, Cartoon, Poetry

Awful Summer

by Noah S. Adhikari Summer is the best … … but!Have you ever thought that summer could be the worst? Meet Jack. He has had the worst summer ever. Here is why: When it was summer, Jack was playing with the water.He caught a cold, and that made him cross. So that’s why he has […]

Poetry

People Have Always

by Siddiq Islam People have always sun-swum in the summer,And bathed in broad buttercups under blue skies.People have always been meadow-grass thumbers,And combed with fresh fingers the fields where they lie. Oh, let me go back to those mild, milky meadows,Where life flows with ease, undisrupted and mellow.I’d stretch like a starfish, alone there for […]

Poetry

British Summer Sunshine

by Monim Wains Finally! My window was bright!My room was filled with glowing light! After months of grey and cloudiness wet,A t-shirt and shorts were a decent bet. So out I came smiling with glee,Everyone blinking and squinting to see. I saw that tourists had filled up the townAnd the river had punts all the […]

Artwork, Poetry

The Universe Awake

by Monim Wains Silence.No sound, nor light, nor existence at all.The universe idled, in a trance. It wasn’t still, though, not perfectly so,Growing from the tiniest speck to the size of a room, to size of the sky, and space, and time.It was evolving, and changing, and turning, all the while asleep. Because, for all […]

Poetry

Eve

by Samuel Skuse I remember.Under the dwindling light of that fading dayI watched my mother, from the window of the room I shouldn’t be in.No one stops me now. She loved her garden. Nestled in Eden, the nurse of nature nourished.My heart would fill to a millpondto see her gentle hands with such willing carebring life […]

Poetry

These Are the Things that I Tend to Remember

by Siddiq Islam These are the things that I tend to remember.A soft, supple night with a close, quiet air.A little prince clutched by the light’s final ember.The warm, thick-skinned fingers that comb through his hair.He’s safe from all harm. With her lips she dismissesAll nightmares and vampires with silk forehead kisses,Between which she whispers […]

Poetry

She Was the Blossom

by Siddiq Islam She was the blossom.Her pink, silken smile.And her peach-coloured joy.And her soft, petal style. She was the leavesAnd I couldn’t quite catch her.She dropped in the breezeAnd I just stood and watched her. She was the flowersI mushed in the mud.Her sap ran like tears.And she was the buds. And she was […]

Poetry

Promise

by Chloe Jacobs Unsubtle metaphor, An image far from original, And yet I know capitalism has teeth; If the coroner casts the bite marks on my skinThey will match the canines,Molars and incisors of Student Finance, And Tory jaws, And the masticating bones of Jeff BezosAnd his space-bound millionaire friendsBurning notes in denominations I have never seen.Polymer smoke, waterproof plastic […]

Poetry

To My Secret Admirer

by Hamish Dodd To my secret admirerWhose words have hurt me so,You slandered me in The Poor Print;Your name I do not know. Such callous words from callow lips,Your cowardice is clear,To take to print with acid tongueAnd my good name to smear I hope you’re at the bar tonightBut think it shan’t be so,For […]

Poetry, Prose

Small Talk

by Anonymous I wonder who invented British small talk. ‘How’s it going?’ (I woke up this morning and I felt so anxious I couldn’t get out of bed for an hour and a  half and looking at my phone watching it get later and later made it worse because  every minute that ticks by is […]

Poetry

Scared of Beans

by Siddiq Islam Crouched we areAround sturdy pub woodGloved fingers hugging mugsAnd our laughter steaming up the winter eveningWhen on the ebbing end of a wild winding dialogue of sports and plays and eggs with facesYuv turns to us and tells us he knows how Pythagoras died. The people of Greece angered by the weirdo […]

Artwork, Comic, Poetry

Afraid Gang

by Noah S. Adhikari The Afraid Gang are kids who are silly and afraid. I have no idea why they are afraid. It’s just how they are. They are even scared of pictures and photos. One day I was walking up to them and said, ‘Why are you afraid?’ And you know what happened? They […]

Poetry

White Text

by Siddiq Islam

Poetry

The Silence of the Tuck

by Anonymous There’s silence from the Tuck Shop,And silence from the sod,Who promised food for Oriel.His name is Hamish Dodd. He made a speech with candied words;He smiled and won the crowd,But then the silence settled in,A monstrous, empty sound. Oh fuck the tuck AND Hamish Dodd,You led us all astray.You promised sweets and tasty […]

Poetry

a dog named joy

by Siddiq Islam i found a dog, a dog named joy, and she wasthe ugliest misrablest creature i’d ever seenher smiles fell limp like wonky rusty seesaws i told her, ‘all my happy poems are gloomy’i do not think she quite knew what i mean:nought but a wonky smile did seep back to me if […]

Poetry

Joy

by Josh W. At your finger – tips,held at your arms –Reach – ing, just on the tip –Of your tongue, balancing on the edge – of the cliffAlmost, ever, quiteThere.

Poetry

Growing Sleepy

by Siddiq Islam Dare I recline?I grow much too sleepyAnd human designIs too weak to keep meFrom downwardly driftingTo dreams buried deep,The loads of life liftingIn velvety sleep. Dare I lie down?My dark eyes are sinkingAnd temptations drownAll weaker-willed thinking.Succumbing to slumber,My soft, calm mistake.I must not plunge under.I must stay awake.

Cartoon, Poetry

Sleepy Bob

by Noah S. Adhikari The silliest poem I have ever made Wakey wakey, that same routine,‘Oh, wake up Sleepy Bob’He sleeps like a koala…‘No thank you mom’ This is how sleepy Bob takes a shower Isn’t it funny? ‘Get up, Bob,’ she says This is how sleepy Bob eats, He needs a soft seatAnd worst […]

Artwork, Poetry

Horrid Henry’s Silly Poem

by Noah S. Adhikari Horrid Henry is a silly naughty, silly boy.Perfect Peter is the nice cry baby for real – you will find out later!Moody Margaret is Henry’s worst neighbour everrr! Horrid Henry is silly as a dog.Perfect Peter, nice as a seahorse, cries as a little baby.Moody Margaret is bossy as a cat, […]

Poetry

The King of Applause

by Siddiq Islam The King needs to hear the extent of his power,So crams to the corners his grand vestibuleWith columns of courtiers, whom every sixth hour,He orders applause from to honour his rule. But crowds often tend to start clapping in tandem,Which lessens the roar of a self-crafted fandom.The cheers must sound full, and […]

Poetry

F***ing Magic

by Siddiq Islam The whole wide world and all its space,With every land and ocean each,And in between, the brazen beach,The forests green in all their grace,The open fields and hilltops high,And miles and miles of boundless sky. Is this some twisted sorcerer’s scoff,Or are you just here to piss me off?All that space, the […]