Angela Kirby

Angela Kirby

THE SCARLET LAVATORY It was difficult to find the right wordsnone of the books or the magazinewere any help, so in the end she said good luck, which seemed somehow, unsuitable, while heequally at a loss, said nothingbut as if she had imagined the eighteen years and...
Chris McDermott

Chris McDermott

Sister Hiltrude I recall the sisters as severeblack heavy vertical linesfalling from head to toe-gravitas without grace –exclamation marks and verdictsagainst my very being- what Darth Vader would look likehad he worn a wimple -sisters with odd namesand eccentric...
Sara Comuzzo

Sara Comuzzo

The Weight If I don’t appear in the photos it’s because it’s mewho takes them, makes a run for it. The fight between me and the seasons. You can spend the year counting the falling leaves.Or watch people walk away like dominoesdetached and reconnected,then put back in...
Roger Suffling

Roger Suffling

First Silence We sat in North woodsCoffees in handUnder August pinesLake at peaceSunlight ebbingCrickets itching stilledAspen leaves done clatteringLast thrush-trill hushedA falling pine-cone’s tiny scuffThen And my Beijing friend blurted: ‘God!  I’m...
Anthony Watts

Anthony Watts

September The strewn bales lie – a fleet of barges moored in their stubble harbour – expectant, as though readyat evening, when the slant sun liquefies the landscape, to go bobbing out to sea on golden tides.  The equinox glides past unnoticed like a stagehand at...
Michael Bartholomew-Biggs

Michael Bartholomew-Biggs

Everyone knows this is not really about dentistry It’s like the dangling toothour seven-year-old selves were so reluctantto detach completely,putting off that final snap of tissue. We use our tongues to probethe pulpy cavity of loss; then press the obsolescent...