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.
Search the archive
Prose and poetry
Poems and prose published on the website from start to finish.
Silas Gorin
Last Kiss She landed, her first hours totally floored. Away from the nest far away as a star. Her wings are a lattice of straw with lachrymal dope binding the pale rose-raw reed...
Herb Kauderer
I Would Take You Anywhere Let us not succumb to the American delusion of nature & ruralness. We are born of technology and live in cities with every amenity we can...
Claire Walker
At the Sociology Conference She told us that even basic research questions can be hard. For example, she said - paused to pour a glass of water, time enough to gather her words – how many...
Marissa Glover
Running Into My Ex at Publix With all the hard pains passed we stand in silence—two years and shopping carts between us— pretending to search for expected friends, hoping some familiar...
Holly Magill
Completely safe in Colwyn Bay We know a man, you see – well, we don’t know him, but we’re certain he was nowhere in the vicinity on that January night when the Victorian pier finally...
Phil Vernon
Instructions Select your glue with care as most are designed for smooth or porous surfaces – not both brush clear of debris then dab with alcohol rehearse the join – and breathe...
Dani Schlosser
‘Dolls cannot stand alone’ #adollslife You want the life of a Barbie doll— the pink dream house, fancy dresses, driving Ferraris, riding My Little Ponies, being married to a man...
Hannah Jane Walker
Their small day The trunk is carried down from the attic, the dress beaten and hung out to bleach. After the truck dust clears 100 white plastic chairs are unstacked into a grin. The ceremony...
For Mental Health Awareness Week: David Seddon
There is Nothing to Me But Sea O for a paddle in a piddle of the sea, a heart-curled drool of cool salinity. Ah for the spittle of the dregs of the sea, a fontful immersion in an...
For Mental Health Awareness Week: Helen Akers
Daffodils Please take away the Egyptian Cotton sheets, the memory foam mattress-topper. Give me a room in a house without central heating. Without daffodils. ...
Poetry Picks
Our favourite poems and ‘best of’ chosen from each month between 2007 and 2019
Jinny Fisher
The Scarf This is the scarf Miranda makes. It is the scarf that she knits and knits and knits in strips of colours she picks from the current selection of wool in the hospice shop and that flows from the chest at the end of her bed down the stairs...
Paul Smith
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...
Patri Wright
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...
M. G. Stephens
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...
Emily Oldham
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...
Robin Houghton
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...
Haibun, Tanka, Haiku, & Haiga
Haibun, Tanka, Haiku, & Haiga reviously published on the website.
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
12 Days of Christmas
All the poems from our regular 12 days of Christmas feature.
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
Words & Images
Words with images previously published on the website.
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
Blogs and news
Blogs and archived news from 2007 to 2020.
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
Reviews
Archived reviews from 2007 to 2020.
Sarah Bower reviews IS&T contributor Padrika Tarrant's 'The Knife Drawer'
The Knife Drawer by Padrika Tarrant, Salt Modern Fiction release date 20th April 2011. £11.95 - Pre-order here...
Julia Webb reviews Michelle McGrane's 'The Suitable Girl.'
The Suitable Girl by Michelle McGrane, Pindrop Press 2010The Suitable Girl, Michelle Mcgrane’s third collection, is...
Julia Webb reviews Heidi Williamson's debut 'Electric Shadow'
Electric Shadow Heidi Williamson, Bloodaxe Books. £8.95 paperback ISBN 1 85224 902 1. ...
Interviews
Archived interviews from 2007 to 2020.
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.