Today’s choice
Previous poems
Lesley Burt
Shell-like
either –
a conch found in hot white sand
on the shoreline at Sanur Beach
a Fibonacci whorl
among morning offerings –
left with reverence
lapped by ripples –
while bright boats with sails
proclaiming Bintang Beer
ferry tourists across the reef
to the roll and surge where
surfers rise and fall
or –
glass fashioned in Murano
to conjure memories of Sanur
and banana-leaf baskets of rice
its form fired
in Laguna di Venezia
from quartz silica sand
in shades of turquoise
edged with white
imitating a conch’s
spikes and whorl although –
pressed against the helix of your ear –
its weight is silent
Lesley Burt lives in Dorset. Her first pamphlet, ‘Mr & Mrs Andrews Reframed’, was published by Templar Poetry in 2023 and ‘Alice spins her Glitterball’ by Tears in the Fence in 2024. Website – payhip.com/LesleyBurtPoetry
Annie Acre
i am sun-shot / green-beamed / stem-steep /
hands cupfuls of heartlines / conjuring water
Jennifer Cole
take your wedding ring
or it might get “disappeared”
Eithne Longstaff
On the road to Belfast today, I failed
to recognise my father. I saw a flamingo
by the Tamnnamore turn off, but paid
little regard as it took off…
Mark O’Connor
At half a tonne in weight
It was like the anchor –
Michael Mintrom
They lie deep in a forest, wounds
unseen, unhealed. Further back,
an escarpment with dark scars.
Thea Smiley
There’s a hiss as he eases himself in
to the green pool, steam in his smoky hair.
Roger Bonner
It’s forbidden to call it war.
We’re here to liberate you;
ignore the glide bombs as they roar.
Maryam Seyf
You and I sit
facing each other
in dialogue
across the table
Kerry Darbishire
Imagine a spring day drawing out possibilities
the newness of life, sisters in long skirts digging
tangled ground, breaking bones and loam wild