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‘In Between’: a poem by Alan Zhukovski
In Between A rebellious leaf tries his best to remain on the branch. He trembles from pain and air. He’s not a material but a product […]
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Two poems by Ranjit Hoskote
Picture credit: Jurgen Brocan Ranjit Hoskote’s The Atlas of Lost Beliefs was published by Arc in April and is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation for Summer 2020. […]
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Two poems by Emily Bilman
Inscape Treading the wild moors for miles A solitary figure gathered leeches That would soak sick bodies, purge Their blood, cleanse, and cure them. Like the […]
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Two poems by Will Stone after Georg Trakl
De Profundis There is a pine forest on which an acid rain falls. There is a tree of limbs that stands lonely here. There is a […]
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‘Root’: a poem by Suna Afshan
Root At the bottom of the garden In the heart of a blackberry bush Are limbs that do not bleed marrow. Feather bone, iron blood, mind of […]
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‘A parent’s age’: on the poetry of Rory Waterman
Matthew Stewart ‘Belonging’ and ‘estrangement’ are key terms when getting to grips with Rory Waterman’s poetry. They played an explicitly pivotal role in his early years, but […]
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Two poems by Niall Campbell
Passing a Lake and Noticing There Were Swimmers The lake-swimmers push out again. Clothes wrapped in plastic on the bank. Is this what freedom is? The […]
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‘The Birdman’: a poem by Christine Roseeta Walker
The Birdman He knew he wasn’t like the parakeets in the guinep tree or the egrets in the mangrove or like the bridge where the river […]
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On Claudian’s ‘The Old Man of Verona’
Photo by Henrique Ferreira André Naffis-Sahely Situated halfway between Venice and Milan, recently the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, the city of Verona has had its fair […]
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‘Music of the Republic’: a poem by Ruth Padel
Music of the Republic You were with him in his final hours… Carolyn Forché, ‘Last Bridge’ Plato put a spell on you from the beginning. […]
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‘Ablutions’: a poem by Nadia Saward
Ablutions I sat with her body until morning. The blueblack cold mimicked her blueblack skin. I chafed her feet with lemon-scented lotion. The corridors were quiet, […]
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‘Dear Sydney Graham’: a poem by Daniel Hinds
Dear Sydney Graham ‘Under your blue hat.’ – W. S. Graham, ‘Dear Bryan Wynter’ I My feet wear odd socks today, one of yours, One […]
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‘A March Nest’: a poem by Gregory Leadbetter
A March Nest A tilt of the light and I wake with a twig in my mouth, building between the shoots and reeds I’d laid in […]
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‘Epithalamion: A Wicklow Triptych’ by Tarn MacArthur
I. Avondale House I wanted to bring you to a place of meaning, meaning, I wanted to bring you somewhere that meant something to me so […]
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Three poems by Clare Crossman
Photo by Gary Butterfield The below poems are taken from Clare’s new collection The Mulberry Tree, forthcoming from Shoestring Press in 2021. The Whispering […]
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On Martin Booth’s ‘The Knotting Poems’
The main part of Knotting in 1884. Courtesy of the Bedfordshire County Archives. John Greening It’s unlikely that many readers will remember the original elegant editions of […]
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Two poems by Kathryn Simmonds
Photo by Marten Bjork Premier Inn You, who have been sought in all the lonely places, (should my mouth be berries and ash) will you come […]
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Two poems by Martyn Crucefix
Enviousness You’ve fought this for so long but comes the time you understand you are second rate no more that brightness with which you shone now […]
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Devilled Almonds and Doomed Boys: some avant-garde poetry of 1920
Portrait of Edith Sitwell by Roger Fry, 1915 Mark Valentine The copy of The Wooden Pegasus (1920) by Edith Sitwell that I have is discarded from Sheffield […]
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‘Pigeons’: a poem by Sarah Westcott
Pigeons ‘Men still live who, in their youth, remember pigeons; trees still live who, in their youth, were shaken by a living wind. But a few […]