Today’s choice
Previous poems
Neil Elder
High Hopes
There are blackbirds singing beautifully at dawn,
Mozart and Shakespeare existed and that’s fine,
but each morning, I pray a new miracle
will find its way into existence;
elephant birds discovered deep in Madagascar,
a cure for six awful diseases, or perhaps
some world leader gets assassinated –
any of these are fine.
This morning I found a clean shirt,
the milk at breakfast hadn’t gone off,
I got out of the house on time,
there was just a light drizzle,
my train arrived; I found a seat.
The day was full of miracles.
Neil Elder has several publications to his name, and is hoping to add another if and when his luck changes. He lives in London looking for sparkle among chaos.
Grace Lynn
Sunlight saunters in long, thin wires through the fallow field
of my bedroom. You approach, a migrating heron
in a runny yolk collar and suntanned shorts, a white-light emissary
of hope. . .
Miriam Swales
I’m waiting for news I don’t want to talk about
and scrolling through old photos to escape.
After some swipes, I see you walking away.
Chris Hardy
The night before we left we smoked opium
for the first time and didn’t sleep.
Angela France
Perhaps some small creature fallen
from where it should be. I am unsure
whether I saw it move.
Adam Horovitz
We cannot update you yet, other than to say we are caught
in a doldrums between stations and that your father can wait
as he has been waiting these past two years . . .
Sue Spiers
A woodpigeon calls
his five-note matins.
Petals ratchet wide
as the sun rises.
Alison Jones
Distance from the ground has become
a way of reminding myself,
how the earth turns her swaying tilt
John Coburn
Inside May’s warm beauty
I think of God and of the Virgin Mary.
I’ve always loved Mary.
Joe Wright
three sheep and a sharp wind, behind
which I feel involvement start
to tug.