Hiraeth In the turpentine afternoon I wanted to beat my wings— hollow so hollow. And in the rectal evening I wanted to be a hummingbird. A hum m ing bird. In the frost-swept night I wished you a Lamb. Soft like cotton balls and languid with musk. Turn me into a violent fresco, Lamb, and […]
Category: Small Books
“Since She Did That” and other poems by E.D. Hickey
Home I rub, and RUB my eyes; Ferocious; Don’t, Don’t, sweetheart. Then the plane tips toward the cool thick Irish sea So that I can face it Gaze into it From my seat. Home! Clouds bubble over the razor wings The light jumps into my tired gaze. Home! Steel There must be steel in […]
The North, Issue 61 (January 2019)
Into the Light Blown Dark: Working with Freda Laughton’s ‘Now I am a Tower of Darkness’ Now I am a Tower of Darkness As a child I knew How, beyond the lamp’s circuit, Lay the shadow of the shadow Of this darkness, Waiting with an arctic kiss In the well of the […]
“A Guide to Feel-Good Doom” and other poems by Lisa Ardill
Dimples I am the wind that sighs at night through your bedroom window making your lovely hairs take flight. They rest against your cheek like affectionate little arms, and cling to your freckled flesh, its rosy flush their one dimpled source of life. Those could be my arms, holding fast to that imperfect reservoir into […]
‘A Glass of Tea, a View of the Atlas’ by Shadab Zeest Hashmi
Trade An assortment of crooked and straight arrows for the crest of a bulbul or a handful of sesame Uncut turquoise for juices of scorpions and glow worms A dozen poisons for an embroidered collar/ a pinch of saffron/ abalone knob Spotted eggs for knotted shoes Peacock feathers for beet sugar How much fur will […]
