The Headteacher Counts Down to the School Firework Display

for BB

10    Children dart in the dark, screamers
streaming sweets and neon, their parents

9          huddling, clutching wholesale beers
sold for a profit by the PTA

8          So many losses: cuts, teachers,
the pupils who never came back

7          after Covid. She’d not long been Head
when they were locked down, had to shift

6          everyone online, care for those
who couldn’t stay at home –

5          and now they’re told to move on,
perform, get bums on seats,

4          kids through SATS. She remembers
the video she made with her staff

3          filmed in isolation, edited
to bring them all together,

2          cheer the children. Only so much
she can do. When Katy Perry

1          gives way to Pomp and Circumstance,
she knows it’s time. She stands,

0          head uptilted like a child,
watching explosions over her school.

Suzanna Fitzpatrick (she/her) is widely published and has been placed in and won numerous competitions. Her debut pamphlet, Fledglings, was published by Red Squirrel Press in 2016, and her first full collection, Crippled, in 2025.

Not Quite Nooked

Having explained nooks and crannies*
I set a child to write a sentence
to show he knew what a nook was.
He wrote, I have to cut nooks
in order to have time to play.
Between laughter and heartache,
I took hope from his mettle:
this child at least had nous enough
to nook time and use it.

* For those in need, a nook is a corner, a cranny a crack, and nooks and crannies all small hidden places.

Charlotte Dormandy is an MA student at the Poetry School.

Medicine From Your Preschooler

Here, I made medicine for you!

The yellow cup.

It’s got juice, and
petals, for your forehead
to go soft again.

Stirred it with my best feather
to make your smile come
back – I bet it will.

Some heart beads
in the bottom, don’t drink those,
they’re just for love.

And you can put some coffee in.

There’s a dinosaur
plaster too, but only
on the outside, and

I kissed it every time I put
something in. We just try
a few things. You’ll get better.

Lee Fraser is from Aotearoa New Zealand. In 2024-2025 she has had 40 pieces published, including in Amsterdam Quarterly, Meniscus, Micro Madness and Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook. She placed fourth in the 2024 NZ poetry slam.