Poems
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An Heirloom of Love
By Adrian Mouhajer, Princess Arinola Adegbiteafter bell hooks
Here on my table, we share the memory of our countries,
centuries of recipes stitched into the strands of my hair, -
Developments
By Ella JefferyThat summer everything smacked
of tax write-off—men came to unslump
the sunstruck fence, rolled tarp-grey
carpet down the hall, but left -
Writers Block
By Rob WatersWinds rush through half clipped spaces; they whistle in the dark through windows neither closed nor open.
The tin roof rattles; shaking just beyond that point that catches those night winds rushing.
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a song you can’t unsing
By Lucy Nortonsame colour as ruin
as in take them from home
as in run songline to dust
same colour as ochre -
How to See Yourself
By Patrick GunasekeraAfter Audre Lorde and Laura Hershey
You strain against the words again,
Carefully chosen to throw out to them -
Quilting the Armour
By Nam LeSun everywhere, and shadow. Swamplight, aquarium light
turning the far-off fields almost Kelly green, bullion-fringed.
Stitch of tracer gold. Crystallised moments you see, hear things clear:
the end, and past too. Shack, hill, horses, watertank, windmill — -
Gowk
By Simon ArmitageOne day I had no soul and the next
I did, like a cuckoo’s egg, so
then I was lumped with this baby ego
hatching out of the heart’s nest, -
I Dance
By Manal YounusI’m a little bit stiff
my back not so used to bending
my body used to spending
hours pretending -
Takayna; Milaythina Ningi
By Theresa SaintyTAKAYNA; MILAYTHINA NINGI
(Takayna; Mother Country)
Nara Takayna; ngini paywuta
Wurangkili mulapana-nara nuritinga tunapri -
Clipper blades and feather pillows
By Jonathan SriranganathanSnip
snip-snip
snip, snip, snip
These days, you can hear that subtle clicking almost everywhere -
Bread: A Fifteener
By Natalie Damjanovich-NapoleonAfter Dumina Frzop’s story
In the homeland we had to struggle for a piece of bread.
Slept in one room on the floor, cooked in a komin, -
cycle
By Dominic Guerrerain a year that I thought would bring clarity and resolve
has only begun with pain, grief and torment
the cycle of years continues
the cycles continue -
Without Her
By Felicity PlunkettWhen a body is found on a bike-path –
When a body is found in a garbage tip –
Where a body lies under a bridge, over a border
in the basement of a suburban home, washed up -
Safe Way
By Kirli SaundersWith love and respect to the Saltwater Women on the East Coast Whale Songline for all times.
Aunty wave them safe way in
Nuenonne, Paredareme, Pyemmairrener waters, -
you can start anywhere, you’ll still hit all the service stations
By Hasib Houranithe laptop bag is red, i got it for free from a friend who got it for free. new things are not all that common, i suppose. my neighbours speak portuguese, the calathea loses another leaf. the heatwave runs like an old fridge, the old fridge is mostly empty, droning.
we watch the tennis. how fast is that little green blur? could whip me interstate … -
Let that Black lady breathe!
By Chika IkogweI’m a woman
I’m a Black woman
I’m a dark skinned Black woman
And often times, I feel like people are saying -
Perimeter of Rectangles
By Laura PanopoulosSize one
Enervated by background noise,
recollecting my words,
they are far from push-button. -
Circular Breathing
By Gabrielle Journey JonesBreathe in truth.
Simultaneously
Breathe out loss.
-
For Grandad
By Phoebe GrainerOld cowboy hat.
We were laughing
Us mob
You telling us story. -
With Grace
By James ColleyThis Is Not A Poem
I am in love with a girl
who does not understand the treachery of images
