death – The Poor Print

Issue #85 – Death

A PDF of the print version of Issue #85 – Death– can be downloaded here

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. […]

Comment, Culture, Food & Drink, Prose

Pubs To Die For

by Max Benster ‘WE SHALL NOT CEASE FROM EXPLORATION, AND THE END OF ALL OUR EXPLORING WILL BE TO ARRIVE WHERE WE STARTED AND KNOW THE PLACE FOR THE FIRST TIME.’ – T. S. Eliot I think that one of the best things Oxford has going for it is the calibre of its pubs. I […]

Comment, Prose

The Belbroughton days – My Experience with Jude Bellingham

by Ben Nolan Before he played on the England team, Bellingham had to navigate the dark and dangerous world of Dudley and Bromsgrove football. Reflections based on my career as a professional footballer. It was a cold Saturday morning. I had been woken up at 6am and whisked off to Belbroughton football club after a […]

Comment, Prose

Modernity – The Death of Personality

by Carolina Cortés Vilaplana There is something so cold about a tall, sleek, grey building with square glass windows. An urban setting, the bollards smooth all around, their shape unrelenting. The same bored poles in place of a lamppost. Flat metal rods at exactly ninety degrees that are but the skeleton of ancient bridges. There […]

Humour, Prose

‘Dear Beary …’ [18]

by Beary McBearface Hello there! My name’s Beary, one of the giant teddy bears who hang out in the JCR – I’m the brown one; my purple counterpart is John Henry. As The Poor Print’s self-anointed agony aunt, I’m here to help you with any troubles you’re facing. Please send me your college (or general) […]

Artwork

Pubs 2 Die 4

by Ayomikun Bolaji

Poetry

To Lie in the Dirt and To Slowly Decay

by Siddiq Islam To lie in the dirt and to slowly decay!A prospect more noble than all other things.The righteous career of corroding away,A subject of earthworms, the Underground Kings. I see your grand temples, with such great potentialTo topple and crumble to dust when they fall,But hanker for something more experiential –I too should […]

Poetry

Essence

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 […]

Poetry

Lines on a Flag that Means Freedom

by Emma Gilpin Lines on a flag that means freedom, The same freedom that lets A kid walk into a shop and stand in line To buy a weapon. Lines on a page from centuries past Enshrined in a mythology That says this is freedom, This wild west, Hunger Games fantasy of a kid In […]

Poetry

‘Remembrance’

by Simon Norris For your tomorrow We offered up our own. We lay ourselves down Under a torn quilt of poppies Across the rift of war. We let you walk upon our backs To peace. We caught the bullets And shells With our bodies. A wall of resolve And flesh and blood. The poppies […]

Comment, Culture, Prose

Gaps

by Amanda Higgin On the last day of Summer Eights, Oriel’s first crew walks away from the river exhausted and a little disappointed. A couple of promising bumps in the first races were followed by a few uneventful row-overs, leaving them the fourth boat on the river. Close enough to take the headship next year, […]

Culture, Prose, Reviews

The Lieutenant of Inishmore: A Preview

by Teofil Camarasu Upon arriving to watch a dress rehearsal of the The Lieutenant of Inishmore, I was told that I would be watching the first run of the show with genuine fake blood (until then they had used water instead). The first row of seats had provisionally been designated a splash-zone, and was covered in […]

Creative Writing, Prose

In The Event

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 […]

Comment, Prose

Grave Thoughts – The Question of Respect in the Afterlife

by George Prew “I felt the thrill of a scientist and the shame of a desecrator” These were the words of Manolis Andronikos upon coming across the tomb of Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, in the royal capital of Aigai. The tomb, unlike most of its ilk, was found completely undisturbed, […]