GatheringBrambles twine round crosses, stray across shaded paths; proffer blackberries mostly still to ripen.The few we pickleave our fingers purple-inkylike schoolboys’: plump, glossy beautiesup...

Undressing for DeathThe bathroom shrieksas I take off my skin,peel casing to carcass.Tonight I remove it all.Stepping out is easy,it’s been coming off for days.What a relief. It does not flatter...

Stratospheric disturbancePerhaps that night I said too much,ignoring niceties to eclipse the strident voices baying in misunderstanding and meanness.My incoherent anger was misread for greed,...

LOCKED She could be tired and distressed. Yes and voices tended to sound the same muffling around her head it is said that eyes tell all but hers were fallen from view. She was tied up all the...

Next week – on the 1st October to be exact – sees the 50th anniversary of Nigeria's independence from the United Kingdom. Here is a timely poem on that topic by Nnorom Azuonye...This Land is not...

Mashkàr the MagicianBefore God as my witness, on the tip every one of my fingersperch firebirds. You cannot see them, but listen. Close your eyes.Hear their burning plumage. Smell the fumes of...

Incantation Breathing his name beneath the frost;the vowels hum on her tongue like a charm.  She buries the trowel into the concrete earth & places the mass of plug-hole hair into the gap,...

MedicationHe watched her eyes flickering open, small soft butterfly movements. He liked to watch her while she was sleeping as it was the only time she was at peace. It was like a lottery waiting to...

The Yoga Class Stretched arms, hands,fingers upwards, heads erectas if pulled by string to heaven’s sky. Legs taut, knees bentin stillness with breaththat marks time, one, two...

Tapas Bar, Camden“Do you mind if I stay ‘til the rain stops?”One woman comes in with her left arm already out of her coat.Two girls sit by the door. They talk about sex, waiting for a break in the...