by Helen Ivory | Jan 3, 2026 | Featured, Poetry
We Should Probably Get Up Now but, outside, the world has paused: the wind has put down its loneliness, its fear of never being seen, or known, and next door’s kids have stopped screaming through the wall. The cats are curled up around our...
by Helen Ivory | Jan 2, 2026 | Featured, Poetry
Interior My dear, I washed you out of my sheets. And now I sleep softly in them. My dreams are sweet and free. I opened the windows to air out your smoke. I liked it for a while, how it held the past in its wispy fingers. I emptied your cigarette...
by Sairah Ahsan | Jan 1, 2026 | Featured, Poetry, Twelve Days of Christmas
New Year I start the day early with a cup of tea. A new diary asks I make an affirmation, while cleaning my teeth. I have nothing to offer – Where did this despair come from? Yesterday I took my son to Casualty, for an X-ray on his fractured...
by Sairah Ahsan | Dec 31, 2025 | Featured, Poetry, Twelve Days of Christmas
Christmas scents No Nordmann firs in Bethlehem. No holly or ivy. But pomegranate, almond, fig and olive trees to anoint with signs of blessing and peace. And houses don’t smell of Balsam pine but of frankincense that can remain potent for...
by Helen Ivory | Dec 30, 2025 | Featured, Poetry, Twelve Days of Christmas
List Poem Between Christmas And New Year The grey parrot has still not been found. A perfect green square lies in the dust. I slept way too long, woke up far too late. The tops of the new buildings are in mist. I like the idea of a balcony above...
by Helen Ivory | Dec 29, 2025 | Featured, Poetry, Twelve Days of Christmas
Little voice Oh, Robin. Our encounters are so singularly memorable. You landed on our left wing mirror in the National Trust car park in Hawkshead, so close I could see each little breath you took, so bold just perching there and yet way too close...
