Today’s choice
Previous poems
Afolabi Ezra
The Day Nothing Happened
It was a quiet day—
no bad news,
no sudden loss,
no reason to hold my breath.
I didn’t notice it at first,
how rare that is.
The sky stayed where it was,
the ground didn’t give way,
my phone remained silent
in the best possible way.
I drank water
without thinking about survival.
I laughed
and didn’t have to explain why.
It felt almost suspicious—
like peace was something borrowed,
something that might be taken back
if I looked at it too closely.
So I didn’t.
I let the day pass through me
unchallenged,
unquestioned—
and only later realized
it had been a gift
I almost ignored.
Afolabi Ezra
Jennie Howitt
Those full udders will slowly burst
spitting milk onto the grass strands.
Matt Bryden
at the cider farm, eight minutes
before handover, we strike on
feeding the donkeys –
Colin Pink
to embrace you is like clasping
a fist full of briars
Simon Williams
What were these fairies called
before we knew of hummingbirds?
Bumblebee moth because of the size?
Reed-nose moth because of the proboscis?
Elizabeth Barton
On Diamond Hill
I didn’t
think of you once
as I climbed
past stunted willows
straggles of gorse
Susan Jane Sims on Mothering Sunday
Matter cannot be created and it cannot be destroyed.
I think of this as I pour the almost white ash from
the green plastic container that came in the post
into the vibrant red metal urn I have ready.
Daniel Sluman
just as the night sky shifts
beyond the minds
of the animals outside
the ceilings
we are pressed beneath change
in aspect & colour
Farah Ali
Notes from nature on how to survive this:
1. Learn crypsis and mimesis be a gecko or a mossy frog
2. Method actors sway like dead-leaf mantises on branches
James Benger
We tore it all down
just to watch it burn,
standing in that alley
of forgotten refuse.