by Helen Ivory | Jul 9, 2026 | Featured, Poetry
The Stirrups Of Genghis Khan A decapitated road sign Spears the yellow verge, Meaningless as a symbol Of progress. A vain strut. The bus driver’s hands are folded As the stop approaches. From the fields, An algorithm of hooves enters the ears Of...
by Helen Ivory | Jul 8, 2026 | Featured, Poetry
Eels Anguilla anguilla I wrote a metaphor using eel for blue-light reflections in water on a flooded motorway and mentioned glittering scales. My writing group said skin which didn’t have the same feel for an ambulance’s race seen through...
by Helen Ivory | Jul 7, 2026 | Featured, Poetry
Because I don’t know any other way I replace my left hand with a hook, my feet with jackhammers, both my eyes with spangled mirror balls. I raise my right hand, and in its palm, I roll another’s choice of dice. I stud my scalp with stars, stripe...
by Helen Ivory | Jul 6, 2026 | Featured, Poetry
Some Things My Mother Forgot to Teach Me (Before She Died) A while ago I saw this prompt on Instagram though I added ‘before she died’ because mine did—long before anyway, I made a list How to think of rejection as a yellow brick one I could toss...
by Helen Ivory | Jul 5, 2026 | Featured, Poetry
The Biology Department Funny how Year 8 is doing bones now, of all the weeks. In the prep room we strip flesh off chicken wings, steep the bones in acid til they bend like rubber, and the girls shriek. Cardboard femur and tibia jointed with split...
by Helen Ivory | Jul 4, 2026 | Featured, Poetry
Memento Vivere We lived here once. The rain we heard fell everywhere. Silence except the wind across the ground. It’s best to keep quiet. Words are like dead seeds, they vanish when they’re said. * New Year’s Eve without stars or...
