Homing Salmon Under the gush of shower water your greying skin flails. In your mind you wade back to the brook, the water icy even in summer, your seven siblings balancing on the pebbled belly of the River Fergus, suds in your hair, brothers dunking you under, ice forming in your brain, penetrating your veins, [...]
“I don’t belong here’ by Fizza Abbas
I don’t belong here I love chipped crayons, they tell me colours can come in different forms: pitch-black darkness can become the reincarnation of red, moonlight can subdue the proud ribbon-like body of the river, wise men need not have a white beard. I often whisper to the wavelength, ask her to, once, and for [...]
“Passing through” and other poems by Betty Thompson
Balloons A stream of them - long and ribboning before they were inflated; breath-filled they turned into globes and cylinders: fat demi-lunes ably shaped by the long-fingered magician who, in his downtime offstage from the Hippodrome, relaxing by the fire, legs stretched across the hearth, would plunge those long hands into his pockets, to pull [...]
“Time” by Fidel Hogan Walsh and Julie Corcoran
2020, Memories Blinded in a winter’s dread no prophet foresaw. Spring’s new life erupted into a chaos of fear. Desolation replaced the warmth of a hug. Children banished from our everyday lives! Ahh, the blessings — a swift journey home to the unexpected happiness under one roof. Chatter, laughter — a family enduring dark days [...]
Poems from ‘My Name Is’ by Polina Cosgrave
Starship The blackest of holes, the hottest of suns, the craziest captain alive. Surrender to none, be gentle to some, stay tough as the skies collide. The milkiest way is over my head. They’re chasing me mile after mile. This starship is mine, try and catch me, I said. This marvellous starship is mine. Self-portrait [...]
