Today’s choice
Previous poems
Julia Webb
Essay on Craft
Because a woman woke up
and her head had become a flower.
Because the images were placed
in a way that pleased the eye.
Because if she’s not careful
the scalpel can cut.
Because once a woman is glued down
it’s difficult for her to become unstuck.
Because when a woman steps off the page
a prince might see an opening.
Julia Webb is a a neurodivergent writer and artist from a working class background. She has three collections with Nine Arches Press: Bird Sisters (2016) Threat (2019) and The Telling (2022). She is a poetry editor for Lighthouse – a journal for new writers.
Chris Campbell
The View From This Hospital Window
I admire an empty bench for hours –
then a glum couple sit to share strawberries.
Patrick Deeley
He sees a stainless-steel spoon
burned off at the base,
a bunch of wild flowers dropped,
Eliot North
Explaining to my little man
about proportion,
he responds with feeling:
a picture of daddy
with thousands of fingers.
Jeanette Burton
What is this, a family outing?
Yes, dad, that’s exactly what this is, I want to say to him
as I open the car door, climb into the front seat,
remembering those marvellous trips to the tip at Loscoe.
CS Crowe
Lines He lived next to the funeral home with his three daughters. A cherry picker beeps in the distance. I cannot see it, but I know the light is red. Who brings roses to a funeral? Rain rolls down window glass, but not here, only somewhere in the...
Carole Bromley
I don’t know why I went,
I’d already heard about the time
a colleague’s husband turned up
at the staff barbecue and punched him.
Lisa Falshaw
A mother teaches her Neurodiverse child colours
What colour is the dog?
The dog is brown.
Can you see the brown dog?
Paul Murgatroyd
I am a clown performing slapstick at a funeral,
Cassandra whispering to Narcissus,
an ant on the lawn at a posh garden party
Hayden Hyams
The rain is expected to stop in 8 minutes and start again in 29 minutes