Antonia Kearton 

      Elements On my son’s desk lies the periodic table of the elements. I look. Amongst the arcane names I recognise, easy as breathing, carbon, oxygen, gold, beloved of kings. He shows me how it’s laid out – from left to right by increasing atomic...

Elizabeth Loudon

      Forty (for Maryna) The first three days of war have a surprising holiday feel. No deadlines, just the giddy gasp of shock. Ordinary life continues. The girl in white socks in the flat downstairs plays a prelude then turns, pleased, to an audience...
Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad

Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad

      A zuihitsu of strings A zuihitsu of strings for Ying A lacquer table, gloss under fingertips. A raised stage with dark linen. A young woman smiles with her hand-held harp, its nine strings glistening. The room swells with the cadence of her pearly...

Pratibha Castle

    Conscience as taught her by the nuns   was a bridle on a young girl’s tongue   pony frolic legs a choke-hold   on convolvulus excess seductive as leaves skittering over moon scatter grass   dandelion pappus   weighted with girlish longings   a...

K. S. Moore

      A Memory Moves Me On (Teenage Years) Teenage years everything begins it never ends Berries shout my name at the fruit stall I hear a voice sing more than words, see   the cross of his cheekbones, the shade of his hair. I save his image to a locked...

Jim Murdoch

      Minder Care is a state in which something does matter – Rollo May I didn’t know what to do with all my dad’s love so, I minded it for him fully intending to give it back one day. Thing is, that day never arrived, the time never seemed right and...