by David K Asamoah We are as planets in the starry domeMoving in unique orbits through the void,Though the same sky, in different heavens we roamAs different hells for us have been employedOften in the late hours of day one findsTheir focus lost in twilight’s bold displayAnd endless thought puts one in many mindsFor many […]
Read more
by Monim Wains You stood at the bottom of the waterfall, pelted by the deluge, punches of weight pounding down on your bones, thumping a tonne on your shoulders. You had been brought to the forest some time ago; not out of your own volition, but by those who decreed that you should exist. Like […]
Read more
by Dania Kamal Aryf Hope is a ray of sunlight that slips through the windows of a fourteen-hour flight, Hope packaged in a luggage bag, not more than thirty kilograms, because they expect a lot from you but you can never be too much, yet you should never be not enough; Hope is the faintest flicker […]
Read more
by David Asamoah The youngest of the last remaining three,Junior to Faith that moves the sun and starsAnd second ranked to Love that endures scarsSo that others may know its riches freeBut if not for Hope’s love which heart would seeBeyond the bleak heavens which Faith moved so?If not with Hope how much would small […]
Read more
by Tom Saer ‘Can you give me a cautious “yes”?’floats up to me from the past, one of my first auditions. Time is a flat circle for me for five small portal minutes.Out of my pint glass body, staring at the stage, the wormhole made when I think about what things look like from the […]
Read more
by Chloe Jacobs I wonder if my mother, younger, Hair bleached summer blonde And smelling, strong, of chlorine, Ever pictured this. This cold place,That borrowed home, Her careful calculus of living. They say you give a part Of yourself, to your child.Inventory: eyes, nose, lips, fear,Hands like mine hand them to me.Perhaps this is why […]
Read more
by David K. Asamoah Oh starry night, I look at you and swoonEnchanted by your ever constant gaze Your numberless glowing orbs watch o’er the ruin Of sleeping souls held in a somnolent haze Not all are blessed to lose into that scent Some run past dawn and miss that gorgeous highBut while the odour […]
Read more
by David K. Asamoah Those eyes tell not a story rich and grand Like pompous bards of epic poetry old Nor do they orate odes to bright morns gold Those dark depths whisper of a starry land And on the fateful odyssey unplanned My soul took to the dreamy waters wellHoping to leave with chronicles […]
Read more
by Tom Saer You have bad taste in encouragement She tells me how to eat The swan dipping in the water narwhal face She tells me what to eat The feathers on the ground She tells me not to eat The chaotic glee of the universe The tone that rhymes with all your curvature
Read more
by Monim Wains Skin pulled tight with springs and coils tense and stiff. Cold attic on a dry winter day, lit only by moon-blue beams that cut a chill in your chest. Each breath ebbing out in gasps. Anguish for a single sunlit ribbon to swim through it all, awashing you in warmth. To lay […]
Read more
by Emma McIntyre Fie! Away, mournful silence!It is you again, who finds comfort in the uniform greys;The faded names. The eroded stone; you, alone.Sunrise, sunset. Son, brother, friend. You continue; crushing souls beneath your feetUntil you pause at mine, and studyThe inscription above my headThrough the sky’s deluge and through my marrow.Letters carved into immortal […]
Read more
by Monim Wains Love has a thousand shades from the mellowest yellow to the deepest red. It paints the grey wrinkles of a face onto a canvas, traced with lolling eyes and a lazy smile. Love. Passion and heat, calm warmth, drowning emotion and friendship. Inside jokes and a decade of moments, threads of memories […]
Read more
by Michael Angerer Once the world is ended I will seeThe glittering stars go drifting by,Leaving their sparkling trails upon an empty sky,Unfolding, falling, flowing slowly towards me. I know not dark, not brightness here,Where dawnless light endarkens speechless thoughtOf future past and present yet unclear,All non-existent in my lonely void unwrought. And how could […]
Read more
by Tom Saer The world is but a simulated blurAll the way through to the core, To the metals inside. Is religion an explosion of gratitude? So happy I could cry. ‘Therefore, since we aren’t clever people, we should adopt the method of investigation that we’d use if, lacking keen eyesight, we were told to […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
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, […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
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, […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
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 […]
Read more
by Ruida Ding Lay me down Sumptuous covers, queen size bed Scrumptious lover, cheeks brick-red Pull me closer You’ve won it Online blog Epistemology Cocktail bar Ethnography Received your Master of Art and Science in Anthropology A thousand names in your biography Overqualified to explore my Biology Desires orchestrated Intimacy engineered Don […]
Read more
by Tom Saer The doyen of the television cables crouches, one knee resting on the dashboard: He exclaims this is The first and last attempt to dull the children’s mouths! They’ve taught themselves diplomacy with brightly coloured picture-books.
Read more
by David Asamoah Please pity me, I bear a thinker’s rage For Sleep and all her sweet unconscious charms How I have dreamt to be held in her arms To end Day’s chapter on Night’s unmarked page Please comfort me, for waking worries wage Chaos upon my mind no comfort calms Though thoughts of […]
Read more
by Tom Saer Part one: ears With shower water making radiators on my skin, a slightly tired feeling coming in To walk instead of take the bus On time, I had explained to me electrodes and consent, for TMS that is. To see your face and brush the hair away from it […]
Read more
by Ruida Ding Four past twelve. ‘Forty-two seconds left to make it to the Exam Schools’; I took in a last eyeful of the resplendent Oxonian architecture and let out a deep long sigh, ‘My sincerest gratitude, dearest punctual lecturer.’ A swarm of students made the beeline for the Bodleian transport booths and I […]
Read more
by Monim Wains Seeping out the hole in his heart, Black blood, clinging to the ribs in his core, Pulling him to the floor, Pulling the light in his eyes away. At times he would hide it, Dam the lump in his throat with his teeth, Eyes grinning cheek to cheek, Happy as […]
Read more
by David Asamoah Fortune’s a gentle breeze lost in life’s storm Whose guiding breaths often keep me afloat I fear those breaths will stop being the norm And give cruel Neptune time to flex and gloat I steer the wheel yet move as fate allows My destiny feels out of my control Is it […]
Read more
by Aidan Chivers A mayfly, dancing through her only spring, Explores her meadow, bathing in the light Of sunbeams passing through her dappled wing Which flutters on her maiden, carefree flight. Some fleeting words float through the dying breeze – She flutters […]
Read more
by Monim Wains I fizzed and cracked, A bright sparkler sparkling Kissing sizzling in the night, I glittered in the eyes of those who held me, Wide-toothed smiles of pride At the sun in their hands, A trailblazer, purple in every blink, Close your eyes, still shining, From afar you’d see me […]
Read more
by David Asamoah No longer do they fear the dawn of night Or shudder at the absence of the sun No day lasts without end but it’s begun In the small hours of morn promising light During the noon, the sun stands its full height And sombre thoughts of evening are slewn With […]
Read more
by Tom Saers Make me spinning visible to Make my pain complete? And I will not allow this to repeat Said someone part of me And I will not allow this to repeat Said generation me, my parent What I wouldn’t advertise To find a smile with space enough for twenty paper […]
Read more
by Simone Fraser I woke up this morning as a mermaid Silver scales rubbing the scratchy university-issue bed sheets It had happened before, Slipping under water in familiar a chipped porcelain bath tub Or the pool around the corner from my childhood home I’d wait it out surrounded in bubbles or friendship Marvel at […]
Read more
by Aidan Chivers The sleepless moonlight dusts the tops of trees, And tastes a calming scent upon my lips Which curls around my outstretched fingertips And drifts, like fleeing dreams, along the breeze. From dusky monochrome I turn away – I step inside, try in the darkness not to choke, And seek within this […]
Read more
by Monim Wains I have watched him, the cherub, from the moment he cried. He opened his eyes and gaped at the sky. His penny-sized heart just fluttering by; pulsing for the clouds, woollen and white. He reached from his cot, with his fingers he stretched. In his eyes, I could see the stars reflect. […]
Read more
by Tom Saer Push your eyes until the logic’s gone and then, in millions and millions of yards and scars of smiles in eyes The destination singing to the cracks in mattresses is on your right I know I’m making deeper crevices when walking while there’s everything but softness round my ears: things […]
Read more
by Chris Hill We tend to respect things that have endured for a long time. We respect our professors Because we know that years of hard study have given them knowledge. That time has taught them more than books could. We respect antiques As relics of an era before our own. As […]
Read more
by Colleen Cumbers Euphoria A struggle, a fight After an interminable darkness The first rays pierce through Penetrating the body, the heart, the soul The body The thrill pulsing through the veins The gush of intoxication Splendour Beauty The fervency of the mortal The golden tinge to the world around you Everything, all that ever […]
Read more
by Yi Yun Soo 這無邊無際的大海 Zhèwúbīan wújìde dàhǎi 是思鄉情懷 Shìsīxīang qíng huái 亦是龐大的夢想 Yì shìpáng dàde mèng xǐang 更是為未來擁抱的希望。 Gèng shìwèi wèi lái yōng bào de xīwàng 有了希望 才有力量 Yǒu le xīwàng cái yǒu lìliàng 活出一個無悔的人生。 Huóchūyí gèwúhuǐ de rén shēng This vast, boundless sea Could be our longing for home [And also] our […]
Read more
by Tom Saer Forgetting this is what my time together knows, considering [I hit the bottom and] the way that darkness has been put to use since goodness knows BC. But now the bonfire substitute illuminates the shame with preset ambiguity: Are there any ways to warn my friends About the Fallout […]
Read more
The Poor Print 