Unseen London
Prose:
- Welcome to London by Tina Festus
‘After what seemed like eternity, they asked some workers to
go back to their stations. But for six of us, as we took our seats
in the minibus, our hands lost their freedom.’
- Mona and Reg by M.E. Rolle
‘The story I’m going to tell is the one about Mona and Reg’s
2009 barbeque. Their barbeques are famous in Brixton, but in
2009 that shit was monumental.’ - The London Scene by Tyler Walter
‘I am invisible because I’m trans. But I am also the stand out
because of it. No one wants to look at me. Everyone wants to
talk about me. That’s how it is in London.’
- Like No Other, Like All Others by Kylie Rolle
‘He defines me as he picks and chooses. His hands love my soft
parts. His paints love the coils in my hair. His eyes love the
green in mine.’ - Lost Boy by Fathima Ali
‘A nation of scientists, teachers, academics and pious scholars
all reduced to the barbarians the media portray us to be.’ - London Hipster Life by Liv Monaghan
‘Full of the kind of electricity that has its multi coloured wires
dangerously exposed, our exchange was very brief and she
headed, quickly, in a southern direction until I could make out
neither she nor her velour Primark tracksuit bottoms anymore.’ - Modern Slavery in the UK by Jhilmil Breckenridge
‘Slavery in the UK is not limited to foreign immigrants, though
it does happen to them more often.’ - Train on Tuesday by Roshni Vatnani
‘You see, if you listen to people you can learn so much. I don’t
ask them anything, just answer. If you ask too much, sometimes
they give you strange looks.’ - Creak by Shokhan Izadin
‘A wave of panic rushes over him as his eyes widen, looking at
the men sat opposite him, with the same fear in their eyes.’ - When One Door Closes by Franca Duym
‘As they pulled up in front of the Ritz, the driver opened her
window, whilst Adeline did not take her eyes off the white gold
falling from the sky.’ - Angel by Jennabeth Taliaferro
‘What kind of sister would she be if she let herself forget him?
She didn’t know another way since he’d left three years ago,
smiling and waving as he boarded a plane in his uniform.’ - The Fox Down Hartland Road by Jessie Rosenberg
‘It is a slight fox. The type of fox you assume comes from a
wealthy heritage. Its defined limbs project from a slim physique
and its well known, bushy tail extends in the air with all its might.’
Poetry:
- Lost in London by Georgie Hart
‘The city is a storm of life that bubbles and roils /
and I have been cast adrift.’
- A Hundred Tastes of Me by Jhilmil Breckenridge
‘I am the flutter of a butterfly against the white honeysuckle so sweet.’
- Silly in Spitalfields by Amanda Fuller
‘Lissome youths in skinny black jeans loiter by stalls,
/ Selling things that no-one needs.’
- Visible by M.E. Rolle
‘In Green Park, a boy kicks at a pigeon that has no toes on one foot /
‘Fucking garbage,’ he says, aping the voice of his father.’
Wells Street Journal 