LEAKE STREET TUNNEL

By LJ Cadogan   my skin no better than a graffiti stained wall from where you tagged your name over and over and over until every brick was covered in your signature mauve spray-paint you only ever tagged me after sunset. like all illegitimate things, I was a secret held in the flap of gum … More LEAKE STREET TUNNEL

CIRCULATION

By Benjamin Corry Wright Kootbaully   I take a step from off the deck and in To night; a heady lift of air, to steep The week.   As light subsides, lungs open wide, Exhaustion, engines, fall behind. The grounds will rise at lower tides, Unlatch the filters – serve the night.   My breath … More CIRCULATION

EXISTENTIAL CRISIS

By Sophie Raphael   The lights turn off and my existential crisis begins. I am a lie and a figment of my own imagination, Caught between who I want to be and who I’m settling to become. I chop, re-design and change. Should I be allowed to dream, to believe, to feel? Fear of failure, … More EXISTENTIAL CRISIS

LONDON

By Morghan Nunn-Menson It was all cast In colourless tones, And an air Of crossed eyes Weighed down The streets Like a military parade.   The birds I heard, But rarely did I see. So much life, Yet so little.   What united us, It seems, Were our guarded hopes And sacred dreams And the … More LONDON

DEADBEAT DARKNESS

By Sajidah Iqbal   His soul shrouded in a dismal, dreary darkness, Bereft of as much as, a tiny tinsel of brightness. He is destitute of words and deficient in life, Devoid of any luck and depleted in pride. Blitz, bombs, burns, rifles, tanks, devastation, His life upside down, like some frenzied fiction.   He … More DEADBEAT DARKNESS

NIGHT VISIONS

By Zoe Maynard White lights speed past my body. Screeching screams escape from the track, the doors fly open. No hustling and bustling like in rush hour mayhem, the carriage has a scrunched up newspaper to keep me company. Outside the station, the eye watches me as she turns full circle. Without blinking, she watches … More NIGHT VISIONS

WAR WORDS

By: myTh the Poet Arm The Arsenal If my pen is mightier than the sword Then I shall be a mighty creature in folklore. Serving hoards from moors, Disarming them without chain-metal and gore. *** Chain Reaction I tread in the vacant and remote. I’ll descend through the depths of hell, Patient yet betrothed. Given … More WAR WORDS

TIME

By: Amanda Hein   Thousands and thousands of books. Hundreds and hundreds of stories. Centuries, decades and years, Cities, maps and streets. Mothers and children, Dates and graves. Names, ink, Time. Time. Ink, screens, Graves and photos. Children and television, Streets, satellites, and google. Years, minutes and ancestry.com. Hundreds and hundreds of timelines. Thousands and … More TIME

OUTSIDER

Poem + Photo By: LaAerial in a corner out of sight eyes wide open fear of flight she holds her breath and waits in vain for someone else to know her name all seems lost as time suspends until she hears a voice within act this moment wait no longer what you’ve been through made … More OUTSIDER

FREE DIVING

By: Gillian Horsley   Marionettes of shadow and light from which a single string hangs; a rope that guides my tactile sight, hunger for adventure pangs. Another world on Earth in blurry tech-ni-colour; my underwater birth, light fades, colour becomes duller. A crux to rely on vision, a species designed with precision; more natural than … More FREE DIVING

HELLISH DELIGHT

By: Hammama Issa   Every morning after breakfast you always savoured your coffee, One cup was all you needed to see you through the day, ‘You shouldn’t be out alone,’ I heard, A dark, murky lake outstretched before me – still and lifeless, The faint cigarette smell that lingered on your clothes, Faint boomerang scars … More HELLISH DELIGHT

SOCIAL BEINGS

By: Sagal Haji   They say that humans are social beings But I can’t seem to conceptualise The way we have to socialise Vain talk and vapidity Are thrust upon us As if it isn’t toxic To our hearts Our minds Searching for authenticity In world filled with dishonesty     I feel out of … More SOCIAL BEINGS

WOMAN OF DUST

By Yasmin Rahim Gathering along the sill At dusk Collecting Like fibres of dust Falling, floating silently My figure wrapped In a blanket Of dust My being comes and goes Swells and disperses Swept away, by a soft blow Like dust The city is roaring Outside my window Yet I am here Aggravating dust Silent, … More WOMAN OF DUST

Delicacy

by Liv Monaghan

‘I ate but boiled egg brown sandwiches.

From the Sainsbury’s at the end of the line of red bricks.

Because I was sick with sorrow’ … More Delicacy