Today’s choice
Previous poems
Edward Alport
Too High to Reach
The tree will not let go.
High up, out of reach,
on a branch, no, more a twig,
a little wizened, shrunken face leers down.
It clings to the tree and the tree clings back.
The apple of its eye.
Not a healthy embrace, then.
More a parental obsession.
We’re past the equinox. November looms,
and the tree will not let go
It’s an ugly relationship, ultimately doomed,
But you’ve got to admire the stamina.
Edward Alport is a retired teacher and proud Essex Boy. Currently a writer and gardener. He has had poetry, articles and stories published various webzines and magazines and performed on BBC Radio and Edinburgh Fringe. His Bluesky handle is @crossmouse.bsky.social.
Jenny Hockey
I knew the earth rolling by
was red, smelt its tang on the wind,
felt woods weighing green
Karen Luke
My sister’s father wound is the flush cut
on the bark where she lost her foothold
and fell,
the trunk burning red between her thighs
all the way down the tree to the ground…
Suzanna Fitzpatrick
Half five. The sky thickens to darkness
through the grime on the tall windows,
the claw marks of rain. Someone whistles
in the corridor…
Robin Vaughan-Williams
Something is pulling at my T-shirt.
Something is holding my hand.
I can feel it walking beside me…
Chen-ou Liu
snow crystals
on my neighbor’s windows …
Foreclosure askew
& more
Greek Feature Day 5 with Vasiliki Albedo, Tim Taylor, Lisa Kelly and Rebecca Tiger
Club Hydra Vasiliki Albedo's poems have appeared in The Poetry Review, Poetry London, Oxford Poetry, The London Magazine, Poetry Wales, Magma, The Rialto, and elsewhere. She won the 2023 Hammond House International Literary Prize and the Poetry Society's...
Greek Feature Day 4 with Sue Burge, Catherine Edmunds and Laura Davis
Sue Burge’s two poetry collections are: In the Kingdom of Shadows and Confetti Dancers (Live Canon). Lumière and The Saltwater Diaries, both pamphlets, are published by Hedgehog Poetry Press. Her third collection, The Artificial Parisienne, is...
Greek Feature Day 3 with Sue Wood, Rosie Garland and Elvire Roberts
Daphne (It is predicted that by 2050 there will be at least one green autotropic person on Earth) She came with a label tied to her toe: “Daphne”. An ordinary cadaver, but young, too young for an early death – her beauty subdued – yet it made us gasp, her flared hips,...
Greek Feature Day 2 with Patrick Williamson, Jena Woodhouse and Kate Hendry
The temple at nightfall Patrick Williamson's recent poetry collections include Presenza (Samuele Editore). Here and Now and Take a deep look (Cyberwit.net). Editor/translator of Turn your back on the night (The Antonym) and The Parley Tree, Poets from French-speaking...