The Forward Prizes have given us the green light that our submissions have been successful and we are pleased to announce that poems by John Bartlett, Rachael Clyne and Mariam Saidan are our three nominations for the Prizes Best Single Poem award for 2026. Please join us in congratulating these amazing poets and keep your fingers firmly crossed for them.
John Bartlett
sclerenchyma
mornings
I wake wary
of abundance
wondering why I’m still here
and then I recall
all the green leaves
with their hiding birds and
the slow triumph
of ripening pods
here lily stalks move
like living things
for this is
what they are
each a pale ballerina
arms stretching
sketching into
resistant air in
winds that conspire
to bring them down
then I’m overwhelmed
by the idea of love – the sap
that runs through each of us and why
time is such a narrow corridor
as we crawl towards the light
is it enough to just be here
to resist these winds
as lilies do
to briefly flower
then leave
John Bartlett is the author of twelve books of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. He was winner of the 2020 Ada Cambridge Poetry Prize and his latest poetry pamphlet is In the Spaces Between Stars Lie Shadows (Walleah Press). He lives in southern Australia. ‘sclerenchyma’ was originally published on 20 August 2025 and was Pick of the Month for that month.
note: ‘sclerenchyma’ is the strengthening tissue in a plant, formed from cells with thickened, walls.
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Rachael Clyne
Homeland
And if a land loses its people and they
are exiled will a land feel their absence
will it dream of their calloused feet
on its warm skin will it grieve the touch
of hands familiar with the ways of its vines
when to pluck its fruits how to shape its earth
and stones into homes will it miss the sounds
of its language on their tongues
will the land remember them or cherish
their blood and bones that fed its soil
will the land resent the tread
of different feet or refuse to bear fruit
under new hands or will it flourish
and if the people keep the key to their homes
even if the doors they unlocked are now
a car park or the street demolished
will the keys sing them back despite bombs
or famine and if a people are uprooted
will they wander and yearn until longing
becomes their dwelling place will they
find shelter in other lands or will they flee
because people of other lands do not want them
and if after all the fleeing and wandering
the urge to return is unstoppable
will the land rejoice and welcome them back
will it cleave itself in two for the sake of all
will the people belong at last
will the land find peace
will the story
Rachael Clyne from Glastonbury, is widely published in journals. Her latest collection You’ll Never Be Anyone Else (Seren) covers themes of identity and otherness including, migrant heritage, LGBTQ relationships. @rachaelclyne.bsky.social. ‘Homeland’ was originally published on 4 June 2025 and was Pick of the Month for that month.
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Mariam Saidan
A Cry
Female singing constitutes a ‘forbidden act’ (ḥarām),
punishable under Article 638 of the Islamic Penal Code.
When I was younger
I used to sing.
In private.
Now whenever
I open my mouth,
it’s a cry for all the
lives in which I didn’t
or will not
sing.
Mariam Saidan is a Specialist Advocate for Women’s Rights and has worked as a Children’s Rights Advocate, studied Human Rights Law at Nottingham University (LLM) and Creative Writing at Kent University. She is Iranian, based in London and has lived in Iran, France, and the UK. She wrote her first journal at 8 years old during the Iran-Iraq war. ‘A Cry’ was originally published on 18 November 2025 and was Pick of the Month for that month.