that weakness coming home
to lo-fi & choked guitars
sleepless on a first kiss
blushingly drawn to lust

they found us
in folds of language
our teen years a synonym
for we weren’t

my father in the kitchen gasps
for money?
with another man?
his table and flowers stolen
only words for shelter

how cruel this snow
exposing the ice
in fingers & frost
like branches awaiting the snap

suddenly the day breaks
to barter a name for closure
it says we are our own

now everything’s ablaze

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Summer 2024

Issue 108

 

The Summer 2024 issue, the first of new editor Niall Campbell, contains poetry by Michael Longley, Ian Humphreys, Isobel Dixon, Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Helen Mort, and more. The issue also has mini features on the subject of ‘work’, that aim to make connections between the jobs done by poets and its impact on their writing. For the first time, Poetry London is also proud to partner with the Society of Authors to showcase poetry by this year’s recipients of the Eric Gregory Award. Also featured are translations of Laura Wittner by Juana Adcock, Jason Allen-Paisant‘s Stanza Poetry Festival lecture, prose from Joey Connolly, reviews, and an interview between Jennifer Lee Tsai and Hala Alyan.

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