The News from Italy
I turn the corner of a Tuscan hill
and face the curiosity of sunflowers
where have you?
when did you?
why are you?
lost it / lose it / losing it
the essence of yellow
is demanding answers
but only the sun replies
to force a swivelling turn
from east to west
parading a new alignment
for an Italian sunset
will cover every question
with gold dust
and the conversation of sunflowers.
M.E.Muir is a Scot living in London with poems recently published in magazines including Dawntreader, The Curlew, Morphrog, London Grip and the anthology What the Peacock Replied.
Doxa *
Crawling
on the rectangular pane,
seeming to believe transparency
must give way, a wasp does not stray
across the four-inch plastic frame,
to where an open window waits.
*a common belief or opinion
Tristan Moss lives in York with his partner and two young children. He has recently had poems published in Ink Sweat & Tears, The Poetry Shed, Snakeskin, Picaroon Poetry and Algebra of Owls.
Note: This poem first appeared in London Grip in Spring 2019
Drawing the Lines
I’m not making it up.
Socks edging along
the washing line, pinks
and a thousand tiny creases
on bedclothes, shattering
like autumn sea,
or say the split
running into fractures
through hot summer earth.
I could no more make it up
than that child in the shop,
near the magazines,
could walk on purpose
so convincingly like a child;
legs tensed at the knee,
arms awkwardly placed
away from the body as if
he were preparing
to walk on ice.
Carolyn Oulton is Professor of Victorian Literature and Programme Lead for Creative and Professional Writing at Canterbury Christ Church University. Her most recent collection Accidental Fruit is published by Worple Press. Her website is at carolynoulton.co.uk