Poetry

Me, You, the Garden, the Sun, and All of Their Beauty

by Michael Leong Oh my muse, my good friend, how long it has been since we last spoke. What did we talk about when days were grey and when the sun shone through clouded skies?What did we talk about when we watched the willows sway and lay on the grass dreaming of better times?What did we do before I […]

Read more
Poetry

my prisoner’s dilemma

by Michael Leong you’ve done my maths and i’ve done yours, so put your exes into my whys and back in again and let’s see where we go. follow the pencil, dot the lines and I’ll slide down your curves, my regression, unintended equilibrium decision tree yields mutually assured destruction but we’ll rest where our […]

Read more
Poetry

‘Cosmic Background Radiation’

by Michael Leong I wrote you a poem – It was a twin fangled star’s crossing the park end of the universe It was a covert signal, a beep beep beeeeep fax machine beaming quiet whispers to desert islands Where jawas, marooned in silver storms would ponder our deepest secrets Huddled around broken words they […]

Read more
Comment, Prose

Dissonance Management

by Michael Leong I’ve been meditating again recently; 10 minutes a day is a relatively low cost for a sense of having dedicated time and space to take care of myself. One exercise I’ve always struggled with is visualisation – imagining a ball of light at the top of your head, sending warm, spacious sunlight […]

Read more
Poetry

‘Hypnogogic Waves’

by Michael Leong hey! what are you doing            begone, the night should not gather here            disperse your images of            me clutching you tightly, arm wrapped            like saran around your waist, warmth         […]

Read more
Collection

Highlights of 2017

A selection of some of 2017’s most popular articles on our website. Featured image by Max Clements – see more snowy pictures of Oxford here. Fantastic Trumps – and Where to Find Them: On Fantasy Tropes & Political Narrative Alex Waygood ‘Dwindling’ Tom Saer   The Saturday Ritual Michael Leong   What’s New About Fake […]

Read more
Comment, Culture, Prose

Becoming Vulnerable

by Michael Leong It is 3am now. A couple of us had been playing ice hockey; afterwards, JJ and I retired to my room and decided to plan next term’s Oxford Mental Health Support Network launch over a couple of beers. Our conversation returned, as it tends to do, to the people we’re hoping to […]

Read more