Today’s choice
Previous poems
Chrissy Banks
The pink and the brown
So many times I walked
head down half asleep
along that ordinary road to school
until the day I saw the cherry trees
sick of standing around bored and invisible
all at once dressed up
sinewy brown limbs
embellished with ruffles and frills
profligate pom poms
as if those trees were calling to passers-by
wanting to share the glee
at their flowering
with everyone
The petals that soon fell under my feet
were turning from pink to brown
I carried them inside me
the pink and the brown
I held them inside with the grey and blue
deep indigo of the Irish Sea
that lapped
and stormed
all around the borders
of my island home
Anna Govier
Next To You A cold, violet light at end of day; this season is ragged with wonders. A fine, black net of starless sky, the flight of geese, the song of the lapsing fire. The way you move, when I am next to you, you stranger in my loved- one’s...
Diane Mulholland
The Meeting A sprawling arena of hard clay, cut through on one side by the creek and spread with thistles. And I, alone at the centre of it. Then he’s there. Six feet of polished earth-brown, flat venom head swaying like a grass stem. We freeze,...
A C Clarke
A Reckoning Coming at the end of a year, a decade, ten years of trading prevarication, all prospects closing off as reality closes in, with half the globe on fire, the rest in floods, how can we reckon up accounts? We're overdrawn, our home...
Sarah J Bryson
A tour of Dachau concentration camp Our tour guide knows all this – it is embedded in him it seems. I watch his face, when he’s asked a question. I see his pause, as if he is checking himself for accuracy before speaking. I notice how he wears the...
Ian Green
Consequences of proper litter disposal You barely notice the ubiquitous white and black of a gull passing overhead. You stumble on. One pint too many, tonight; four’s fine, but after five you feel it. You burp, delicately. On a bin ahead another...
Sarah James/Leavesley
International Swimming Pool Rules 1. No ducking, bombing or diving, unless on command from the Pentagon. 2. Lifeguards are there to guard. Please obey their orders respectfully and promptly. The guns are (mostly) only there for show. 3. Maximum...
Kate Garrett on International Women’s Day
A few things cunning women do “…the virtue of word, herb, & stone: which is used by unlawful charms, without natural causes.” – King James VI & I, Daemonologie Accessorise dirt-scuffed jeans with bramble-stain lips – three hares away from...
Jo Bratten
In the shower with Gerard Manley Hopkins Bless me father for I have sinned again Rejoice in soapy foam-fleece fountain furled For I have lied and cursed and fucked with men Flashing quenching sing-shower curtain-curled In hurting self and friend...
Sanjeev Sethi
A Factory of Feelings Your biog is your own, wash it with as many adjectives. Entitlement and empathy are opposites. Dissimulation is elementary to past lovers, like dissemble to ex bosses. Facebook and Twitter are placeboes for amour proper....