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 […]

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Comic

Future

by Noah S. Adhikari I wish I could go into the future. That would be amazing. I could see when I get my black belt in karate. But the real thing is that someone has said that they have already been in the future and said that I will never get my black belt! Noah […]

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College, Humour, Prose

Operation Quackers

by The Yellow Feathers This is a transcription of an intercepted meeting of the 696th Airborne, the ‘Yellow Feathers’. Triangulation of signals places the location somewhere in the Hall rafters. Little is known about the covert division, although the code names of the commanders have been declassified for public release. The latest intelligence suggests that […]

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Comment, Prose

Nineteen Eighty-Nine

by Anonymous Victoria Park: on this site, in 2022, nothing happened. For thirty years, people had gathered at the park in Hong Kong in remembrance of those who died on 4 June 1989, at the hands of a regime that sent its military on its own people. Hong Kong had been the only city in […]

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Comment, Prose

A Word from the Editors: Future

by Monim Wains Hence, the future beckons, as it always does. With the last issue of this academic year, you move on, dear reader, turning a new page. But, I wonder, how big will the change be? Is the summer just a page break? Or a whole new chapter of life? Although the university seems […]

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Comment, Prose

Musings on the Merging of Presents and Futures

by Ada Sevimli I learnt so much about the world around me, primarily that I know so little about it. In classes, seminars, and during revision, I filled a small but precious pool of knowledge and relished in its beauty. Took pride in the fact that it glistened like the foreheads of those who labour […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Humour, Prose

Dear Beary… [15]

by Beary McBearface Beary McBearface, treasured Oriel mascot and JCR staple, is here to help you with your troubles. In this column, Beary will attempt to find solutions to your little college worries; trust him, he’s seen it all. To contact him, all you have to do is send an email to thepoorprint@oriel.ox.ac.uk with the […]

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Creative Writing, Prose

When We’re United, We’re Unstoppable

by Madeline Dougherty ‘Mages! Fica! We have done it! Only the cowardly Elite leaders remain of the Tenebrum army. Today you have fought hard and we have lost many valuable members. Some of you have sacrificed family members, lovers, friends, children. We appreciate the efforts and pain you have endured today and it will be […]

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Comment, Prose

A Word from the Editors: Unity

by Jerric Chong Behold, how good and joyful a thing it is: brethren, to dwell together in unity! Psalm 113:1 As I write this, Sam Ryder has just given the UK our best result in twenty years at the Eurovision Song Contest: a goodly 466 points to finish in second place. The victorious act (most […]

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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 […]

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Humour, Prose

Dear Beary … [14]

by Beary McBearface Beary McBearface, treasured Oriel mascot and JCR staple, is here to help you with your troubles. In this column, Beary will attempt to find solutions to your little college worries; trust him, he’s seen it all. To contact him, all you have to do is send an email to thepoorprint@oriel.ox.ac.uk with the […]

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Creative Writing, Prose

Family Tree

by Monim Wains ‘Altitude, 200 metres … 100 metres … 50 … 20 … brace for landing.’ The constant hum of the jets got louder, fiercer as we got closer to the ground. Four beams of flame bore down on the land as the starship slowed to almost a hover before dropping for the last […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Prose

Memories of the Future

by Madeline Dougherty I will always remember the day I got in. The frenzied phone call to my mom; the worry I had misunderstood the email; telling my boss that I would be leaving; my family immediately driving 3 hours to celebrate.  I remember everyone telling me this would be a formative year, the best […]

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