Today’s choice

Previous poems

Catherine Shonack

by | Jun 30, 2025 | ,

 

 

white flag, black flag

he lived with his hand permanently
on the throttle, like it would kill him
if he let it go.

existence passed in flashes, his alcohol soaked dreams
indistinguishable from reality—he was a victim of his divorced mind
chalking up his raucous leanings to the drink
he feigned playing dress up, it was not he
who committed such wicked acts, it was his
debaucherous pirate personality. his maritime haunts did not belong to him,
who he was at sea was not who he really was.
when confronted with vast, endlessness of the ocean
who wouldn’t go mad?

 

 

 

Catherine Shonack is a writer from Los Angeles who obtained her master’s degree in playwriting and dramaturgy at the University of Glasgow. Her poems have been featured on the Kirkstall Poetry Trail and the LOS ANGELES zine, and her radio play ‘How to Drive in the Dark‘ was performed at ChapelFM as part of their Writing on Air Festival in 2024. She doesn’t believe in coincidences, superpowers, or being afraid of falling, which, according to her ice skate coach, is the only way to learn.

Jane Pearn

by | Sep 13, 2021 | ,

      Gone The tap is not dripping. I check the windows and leave. The doors are all locked. I sit on the bus and wait for a thought. Nothing comes. The tap is not dripping. I look out at the muddy fields and write a note to myself. The doors are all...

Chrissie Gittins

by | Sep 12, 2021 | ,

      Start With The Thing That Can Fly Away It was a goldfinch balancing on a teezle, she’d planted it for this very reason, and to see a tall hat of snow. The custard yellow flashes, the head dipped in red, the white apostrophes on black wings. But...

Jason Visconti

by | Sep 11, 2021 | ,

      Alley Cat The dark never knew such corridors, The evening gallant upon its fur.     Jason Visconti has attended both group and private poetry workshops. His work has appeared in various journals, including Literary Yard, Indigo Rising,...

Lara Frankena

by | Sep 10, 2021 | ,

      Bowled Over As I walk them home from school Sneaky Camouflage and Brave Barry train for The Big Fight, dangling from fence railings and fake-kicking brick walls in their black Mary Janes. They’re going to swap summer uniforms for shorts and...

Rituparna Sahoo

by | Sep 8, 2021 | ,

    Birding at dusk On the shores of Mangalajodi: one of Chilika’s few undiscovered corners, the boatman welcomed me with warmth in his eyes. As these wetlands happen to be the turf of these poachers turned naturalists who know it like the back of their...

D’or Seifer

by | Sep 7, 2021 | ,

      Visit Your building is an early 2000’s monstrosity. Mini palm trees and cultivated grass embedded in studded concrete, sweat stained balconies a spit away from the diamond exchange where night brings out prowlers in business suits and lambs paling...

Michael Estabrook

by | Sep 6, 2021 | ,

      because I’m a car mechanic’s son When Ed who’s a doctor’s son couldn’t start his car in the snow outside Salzburg after The Magic Flute, I got out to push saying “Pop the clutch Eddie after I get her rolling” which I knew how to do – * because you...

Helen Evans

by | Sep 5, 2021 | ,

      And sit with the dark In response to Stand in the Light by Elizabeth Rimmer And sit with the dark, when it comes. Smell the wax and the wick – watch its small orange tip glow brighter then fade into black. See the ghost of its flame on your...