Mother, see the dust of my lonely sorrow — I need your prayers; I am drowning in my own swamp. It seems from the day I was born my fate …
Only One Son (Magan Magan)
Once Mohamed had a dream about his son. The dream kept him up until the early hours of the morning. He was caged under his blanket — battening his mind …
Lines on Maps and Foreheads: Three Poems (Paul Mitchell)
Ode to dismantle a poetry god I saw you bathing on the roof with all your Greek myths. Medusa was my favourite – I caught her staring at your naked …
Rattle up the Road (Siân Darling)
Flesh and fat were luxuries of childhood, in that window before starvation was understood. My loose, thickened skin — coloured the same as my mama’s, who I’d never see again …
The Orchardist (Claire Miranda Roberts)
Rigid and bony like an orchard in winter— a single tree can produce forty types of fruit. We can collapse a whole orchard by injuring the tree so that twenty …
Heimlich Unheimlich (Sieglinde Karl-Spence and Hazel Smith)
(To enlarge the images, please enter full-screen mode on your device and zoom in) A Note from Author Hazel Smith These images are extracts from the latter part of …
Shut Up and We’ll Be Good to You (Koraly Dimitriadis)
Shut Up and We’ll Be Good to You Shut up and we’ll be good to you Be good and we’ll love you We’ll tell powerful people about your book But …
The Leaves (Jacqueline Rule)
The morning sky is flat, a smooth grey pebble. There’s a row of trees across from the house where the social worker’s car has stopped, the limbs are pitted and …
Courage (Maxim Bishev)
Inspired by ‘Mourn Not the Dead’ by Ralph Chaplin Grieve not the innocent who lie In cobbled cells, Awaiting execution. Grieve not the liar’s wretched conscience Which oft in moonlight …
Stop All The Clocks (Magan Magan)
Honey My mother said I looked like a boiling pot of honey the way my face broke out when she talked about Jahannam. Gentle boys ruin in the fire too …