Poetry

A THREAD OF SUNLIGHT ON EURYDICE’S HEM

Call it an exercise in restraint/
The angle of ascent is sharp/
Like the sloped ceiling 

Chronic Care: “Broken Leg” by Keith Carter, Photograph (Toned Gelatin Silver Print 1998)

The girl in black dress and tights stands behind the fawn,/
hands clasped, their white blur forming almost/
a heart.

Learning New Words

one of the benefits of the disease –/
you learn new words. You/
also learn new meanings for/
old words.

Particle

like light is/
like my speckled skin: brim/
and brink. verge.

if i die at thirty five

there will be/
no burial burn/
the body cancer/
cratered

The Christmas Patient

Blood draws dissolve into Christmas lights/
veins dizzy with the latest medications.

In the British Library Repository  

The other man holds the letters/ 
to his nose, inhaling deeply/
One letter after another he lifts and smells

issue 38 2020 Prize Winners
School Shooting

After today’s rain/
all that’s left/
of the planets/
green and pink

In the Hospital 

In the hospital there was time/
to read to dream to act/
to read Freud’s dream book on his couch