by Helen Ivory | Feb 22, 2016 | 2016 poetry picks, Prose & Poetry
The Mattress Conspiracy None of us saw it coming. It was slow and subtle. First, a lot of small stores went out of business. We wouldn’t miss them. They were tiny – nail salons, currency exchanges, party stores, boutiques, all of them...
by Helen Ivory | Feb 21, 2016 | 2016 poetry picks, Prose & Poetry
It Starts with Her Awkward Hairline the bit behind her ear, along the bone, I accidentally on purpose stroke as the comb starts to move freely. Her head between my knees, a kiss on her lobe — something she wouldn’t get in a salon — and fingers that look for...
by Helen Ivory | Feb 18, 2016 | 2016 poetry picks, Prose & Poetry
Missing Silverware Phantoms annoy my memory palace Late at night into early morning light, Streeling through the halls like banshee, they sing Dissonantly and claim to be me Or my siblings or old friends and lovers, Even to aping our gestures, taking Our...
by Helen Ivory | Feb 14, 2016 | 2016 poetry picks, Prose & Poetry
Love Love speaks in a manna-song, one that God might try on prophets. Don’t guess and tell, it says. You stumble down and through the gaping cave, giddy with self-consciousness and breathless ephemera. Don’t ask, says Love. Don’t assume. So you...
by Helen Ivory | Feb 13, 2016 | 2016 poetry picks, Prose & Poetry
Tying the bowline Slipped back on itself through the first loop, the rope forms a round window. You’re halfway in. Slick as a snake charmer you guide your needle point to pierce the eye, that tooth-shaped space, as words unravel me until nothing...
by Kate Birch | Feb 11, 2016 | 2016 poetry picks
It went right down to the wire, but we can now announce that January’s ‘Pick of the Month’, and our first for 2016, is Mike Farren’s ‘Electricity and void’. Mike is a freelance writer and ex-IT consultant. He lives near Bradford and...
