Welcome to the Ink Sweat & Tears Poetry Archive

This archive is formed from all the posts from that original Ink Sweat & Tears website, it now consists of everything we have published up to the end of 2019. IS&T was founded by Salt author Charles Christian in 2007 as a platform for new poetry and short prose, and experimental work in digital media. Charles ran the site single-handedly, publishing new work every day till 2010, when now sole editor, poet and artist Helen Ivory came on board as Deputy Editor. The Ink Sweat & Tears website continues to run and can be found here

You can either click on the poems below which run from most recent to oldest, or you can search for particular poem or poet, there is also a list of all the categories to click through. From Prose & Poetry to Words and Images, Haibun, Tanka, Haiku & Haiga, in addition we have all of the Poems of the month and Poetry picks, old blogs and news, award nominated, reviews and interviews.

Please do take a look.

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Prose and poetry

Poems and prose published on the website from start to finish.

Simon L. Read

    Infestation my house is full of purple buzzing bumblebees and tigers laying on the ceiling friends they ask me how I'm dealing with this stressful situation what's with their morbid...

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Catherine Ayres

      Perspective   O mother moon vicious eyelash in velvet unblinking judgemental bitch. I can stare at you ‘til morning makes you crayon I can hide you in a forest by moving an...

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John W. Sexton

    Unseen, But Here My autistic son has wings of shadow. I see them when he stands in sunlight; they blossom behind him like dark clots. He giggles under the full sun and a crown of glare...

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Michael Scott

      Snuff Shakespeare Banquo is dead. Zipped inside a body bag, ringed by Zimmer frames. [Here comes more sugar for the shock. Sweet tea clouds hang.] What will they do now? He’s...

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Lucy Ingrams

      Home furnishings     Sensing revelation on the fifth floor, she reaches – self-defensively – for tools   and next, she is all pocket: the more combed the colder,...

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Lindsay Macgregor

  Lugworming Two lumps of men on a plate-glass beach vulcanised by their gear like old buddy bull-seals end-on to the horizon slicing through the daily slap of a low ebb without ever touching....

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Hilda Sheehan

      Slices Bread began to slice the woman. Don’t slice me, cried the woman. Bread had no mercy for women: sliced woman is delicious with husbands and children on top, thought bread...

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Robert Nisbet

      Pastoral Care Dry, scaly Mr. Jenkins, history teacher doubling as pterodactyl, had just that one shrivelled slab of advice (over and bloody over, Form One, Form Two, Form...

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Tom Kelly

      Love Hopes Standing in the street, watching her house as if it will walk to me. My heart sits in my mouth, waiting for this to happen, in a matter of time. I want to believe she...

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Poetry Picks

Our favourite poems and ‘best of’ chosen from each month between 2007 and 2019

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Haibun, Tanka, Haiku, & Haiga

Haibun, Tanka, Haiku, & Haiga reviously published on the website.

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12 Days of Christmas

All the poems from our regular 12 days of Christmas feature.

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Words & Images

Words with images previously published on the website.

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Blogs and news

Blogs and archived news from 2007 to 2020.

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Reviews

Archived reviews from 2007 to 2020.

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Interviews

Archived interviews from 2007 to 2020.

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