Today’s choice

Previous poems

Holly Winter-Hughes

by | Oct 21, 2024 | ,

 

 

 

Hair Cut (Everything You Know About Me I Grew Myself)

You stand behind me / catch my eye / take the snatch of silver / to this softness of hair / and steal me
strand by strand. / How did I get to a stage where / a stranger could coax me / with a blade? / A man
with careful words / and a gentle smile / and reflect back / all that is beautiful.

 

 

Holly Winter-Hughes: Holly’s work has been commissioned by various organisations including Apples & Snakes, Live & Local and Arvon. She has performed extensively across the UK including at Ledbury Poetry Festival, for Raise the Bar and for the BBC. She is passionate about raising the voices of underrepresented people and as such, is the founder and CEO of The Word Association CIC (who have published over 30 anthologies from marginalised communities). She is currently completing an MSc degree in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes, and is a member of LAPIDUS. She is also planning her PhD in restorying the body. Holly is a widely published writer, most recently appearing in Clarion and Impossible Archetype. Her collection, How to Leave a Body… is out in May 2025 with Verve. www.hollywinterhughes.com

Steve Haywood

by | Jul 5, 2020 | , ,

      The Winter Coat My fingers flicked across the screen like a concert pianist performing a well-rehearsed and all too familiar musical score: odd numbers, one to thirteen, seventeen and twenty-seven (my lucky numbers), and a small bet on red, just...

Guy Elston

by | Jul 4, 2020 | ,

      The Mishap The first barbecue of summer - the last, for Peter – had a decent turnout, uni pals and partners mostly, but the odd school hanger-on and semi-pitied colleague too. The first hour was a bit damp, naturally - politics, sport, the time...

Evan Hay

by | Jul 3, 2020 | ,

      Sent from my iPhone, so please excuse brevity, spelling & punctuation Sent from my iPhone whilst dieting, so please excuse an 8-point-font Sent from my iPhone during a senior moment, so with all due respect Missy- excuse spelling &...

Grant Tarbard

by | Jul 2, 2020 | ,

      The New Testament of Dog  Dog, elemental creature delving in puddles, fully formed in mud, this body earth, all love without mechanism, he is the murmur that nestles into these delightful sounds of apocalypse. Enemy fire turns off the crickets...

Zoe Brooks

by | Jul 1, 2020 | ,

      Stars in Class Our teacher would give out stars – gold stars to the bright supernovas, silver for the hard-working planets, and none for the boy at the back a black hole that sucked in everything she threw at him and gave back nothing. The...

JT Welsch

by | Jun 30, 2020 | ,

      Sonnet A body longing how long? to be there by 10am FedEx promise a plastic box like for recipes or receipts pouring like cake mix in the rain.     JT Welsch's books Orchids (Salt, 2010), Hell Creek Anthology (Sidekick, 2015), and Flora...

Tara

by | Jun 29, 2020 | ,

    Chew Toy My body, my stomach, my chest is a ball A dog runs after it and Occasionally gives it a little chew It’s that lurching feeling That sinking A mix of fluttery anxious butterflies And deep sorrow Heart races and mind is overactive All you want to...

William Bedford

by | Jun 28, 2020 | ,

      The News is in The news is in. Grey fears can go away now. These flames are black and green, the colours of disease. It isn’t true! But only because I keep my eyes closed. If I open them, the wall offers an Arctic ferment of blues, the ceiling is...

Stuart Ross

by | Jun 27, 2020 | ,

Join us for a live zoom reading from Stuart Ross and Bloodaxe poet Clare Shaw in our new occasional 'Live from the Butchery' series, hosted by Helen Ivory and Martin Figura from their home.  The reading will take place on Sunday 28th June, 4pm GMT, 11am EDT.  Please...