Today’s choice

Previous poems

Margaret Poynor-Clark

by | Jun 17, 2025 | ,

 

 

 

Releasing My Stays

Inside my bedroom I take a fresh blade
pull off my jumper, examine the ladder
in front of the mirror cut through my laces
rung by rung,
watch my grey marbled flesh
emerge from its carapace,
fold by fold.

I’m letting go,
I’m letting it all hang out,

First to go is he who wants me,
wants me to cook him dinners,
drink with him and him alone.

Next is my piano teacher
who says, I will never progress
if I don’t practice my scales.

Then, that old school friend
who phones every six months
to check which one of us is in front.
Am I loosening too quickly?
Am I throwing too much away?

I hear my mother say, Be careful dear,
there may be no one left to save you.

 

 

Margaret Poynor-Clark lives in East Lothian. Her poems have been published in IS&T, Pennine Platform, Dream Catcher and anthologies To Light The Trails  by Sidhe press, and Ukraine Anthology by Wildfire Words. She received a mentoring award from The Wigtown Poetry Festival in 2022.

Kweku Abimbola

by | Apr 22, 2025 | ,

My father walks backwards
better than most walk forward—
so whenever he sewed his steps into the living
room carpet, I rushed to mirror my moon-
walking, until he froze,
froze like he’d been caught
by the beat.

Paul Bavister

by | Apr 21, 2025 | ,

We found our eyes first,
as they swirled through fragments
of black jumper, dark pine trees
and an orange sunset sky

Phil Vernon

by | Apr 15, 2025 | ,

Because we were four
and I only had strength to carry one
and knew no other way
I carried the one who called out loudest;
threatened us most.