Today’s choice
Previous poems
Antony Dunn
Plainsong
Have you heard the one about
how I’m hoping to bow out –
playing guitar for the Cure
on a wide stage – the riff pure
as wind-bells in the twilight,
the crowd stretching beyond sight
into the dark and the rain –
smiling, not ageing, not in pain,
lost in the longing song, doubt
done with, drowning myself out?
Antony Dunn has published four collections of poems most recently, Bugs (Carcanet OxfordPoets) and Take This One to Bed (Valley Press). Winner of the Newdigate Prize and an Eric Gregory Award, he edited and introduced Ex Libris, a posthumous collection of poems by David Hughes (Valley Press). Antony is a regular tutor for The Poetry School and has taught many times for Arvon. He has worked on a number of translation projects with poets from Holland, Hungary, Israel and China. He has been Poet in Residence at Ilkley Literature Festival, the University of York and the People Powered Press. Until 2018 he was Artistic Director of the Bridlington Poetry Festival. Antony lives in Leeds. Website: antonydunn.org
Dan Stathers
A long way from the quags of Nova Scotia,
stowaway beneath the cherry laurel thicket,
more triffid than cabbage . . .
Sarah L Dixon’
I fall in love with Leeds Coach Station, Holts pints,
a shared fish supper from Arkwrights.
Simon Alderwick
1
in the beginning,
there was light.
and light said:
let there be god.
and god meant: everything
touched by light.
Tim Kiely
The Abbot of Kosljun Monastery Considers the Cyclopean Lamb
He suppresses a shudder as he summons
the brothers from the library; shows…
Rebecca Bilkau
Travel essentials
A rucksack isn’t a kitchen dresser, or a view, or
a whirl of Christmas Market cinnamon, sweet almonds…
Sylvie Jane Lewis
Water Damage Noted 06/24
An old lady enters, soak-dizzy,
puts her returned book on the trolley.
Leigh Manley
Should You Wish to Imagine Poetry in Ventricular Ectopy
False starts, I’m aching to roll with you,
though you catch me stumbling off beat latches…
Patrick Wright
When you drew lines in the sand with your long white cane
the lesson was that faces can be found just about anywhere.
S.C. Flynn
TENTH VIEW OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS
Araucania, Chile, 1800 AD
This is no job for the young, Melipal…