Chantress Snaking briar Kiss the ground Make a root Where you’re found Snick and snag Kitten claws Do your worst Little thorns Overgrow Overthrow Nature’s way Hammer home He is gone He who strimmed Beat you back Lopped your limbs Dragged you forth Burnt your dead Boiled your young Smeared his … Continue reading Chantress by Susie McComb
Month: September 2017
Nationality by Valerie Pate
Nationality The TV presenters are shouting. Every line they deliver is accentuated by dramatic pauses and rising crescendos. I scan the jammed airport terminal, attempting to spy a man under forty not clad in a cap. The voices are too loud; jarring. I have returned once more to the U. S. of A. “Welcome … Continue reading Nationality by Valerie Pate
The Columnist by Michelle Dee
He picked me up, picked me out, from all of the boys. He took me home took me to bed he was a columnist. Rewriting my life with a few words, ‘You are a girl,’ he said pulling me in for a kiss. ‘You are not gay, you are just a girl,’ he said transforming … Continue reading The Columnist by Michelle Dee
Change At Basingstoke by Peter Fereday
Change at Basingstoke Last week I went to Wokingham I travelled on the train They told me “Change at Basingstoke” I murmured “What a pain!” So when we got to Basingstoke I went into the loo And changed into a leopard Who’d escaped from London Zoo. I leapt across the platform In a rather … Continue reading Change At Basingstoke by Peter Fereday
One-shot filmpoem
Here's how to use an iPad to make an extremely simple one-shot filmpoem or digital story. First - write a poem! Ok, it needn't be too long or too complicated. At our taster session I asked people to tell me a story about their life, or The Story Of Their Life, in just six words. … Continue reading One-shot filmpoem
Fear of Drowning by Gail Curry
Fear of drowning I used to visit the sea drawn to it to sit for hours watching the waves drag the shingle from the shore snatched into the icy waters against its will. I used to feel like shingle a small piece of stone insignificant at the mercy of the sea, waiting to drown. I … Continue reading Fear of Drowning by Gail Curry
Fairy Rings by Hannah Chutzpah
Fairy Rings Gentrification is a game We have to play But cannot win. We move in mushroom fairy rings: The unsafe neighbourhood becomes The OK neighbourhood becomes The cool neighbourhood becomes Unaffordable. We spores settle where we can Move when we’re starved out. We know we change each place But we cannot change … Continue reading Fairy Rings by Hannah Chutzpah
Turning The Tide by Tony Gadd
Proud men of Hendon, Pallion and Panns, ‘short time workers’ of dying shipyards Scavengers of fuel, the Sherpas of the north, sea coalers beating a different path Suited, booted, flat cap too, winter an added donkey jacket and scarf, for the human mule Expeditions on his Elswick bike, his pit pony, his workhorse, just a … Continue reading Turning The Tide by Tony Gadd
Bank by Rob Walton
Write poems on the tins you put in the foodbank Write verse about how foodbank even became a word Write about alternatives to foodbanks Write long lines about love conquering all Write about love not necessarily being a short-term solution for the starving Write that then again maybe love is the answer Write about protest … Continue reading Bank by Rob Walton
Testing Time by Helen Anderson
Testing Time Blue lines equally strong Don’t think about yesterday’s power lunch raising objections all through interminable … Continue reading Testing Time by Helen Anderson
Saltburn Pier With My Mother by Jo Colley
Saltburn Pier with My Mother Your feet and my feet on the weathered boards, your arm in mine. The stick keeps you upright in the northern breeze, while the salt air uncovers the woman I once knew. Years and cares blown from your face as you drink in the view, recall all the oceans of … Continue reading Saltburn Pier With My Mother by Jo Colley
Unfurling by Sara Dennis
I had set sail, Carried by the winds Of change. But change Was not ready For me. I checked my watch - I was being watched. Timed. Tick, tock, Tick, tock. Where was I? Did I even know? No. Now I do, Don’t I? I caught my renaissance wave, Hung ten upon the crest, … Continue reading Unfurling by Sara Dennis
Celebrating Change 