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Two Poems

Kaddy Benyon

‘Sometimes I am so afraid my envy / will hack at your figs, strawberries, / or full-bellied beans, I dig my fists / into my pockets and nip myself.’

Two Poems

John Balaban

‘Her mother planted a garden in Manhattan. / In that garden is a tree. Some look on it and feel restored. / Others, when the wind lifts its leaves, want to scream.’

Two Poems

Anthony (Vahni) Capildeo

‘Fingers twirl / composite stems whose colour / twist rock-candies, snake-ladders / precious yellow, less-rare green.’

Two Poems

Paula Bohince

‘What sparrows come, / come briefly, briefly displacing / the nothingness.’

Two Poems

Joe Dunthorne

‘I’ve seen it hang in muslin / like a freshly popped-out eye.’

Two Poems

Mei-mei Berssenbrugge

‘You divide space you think time occupies, not motion itself.’

Two Poems

Gary Barwin

‘it’s philosophy / coming from everyone at once // like a ballgown worn by the sky’

Two Poems

Rae Armantrout

‘My long career / in explaining / my career.’

Two Poems

Julia Copus

‘The me that was then / follows, watching from the dark / theatre of my skull.’

Two Poems

Eric Anderson

‘Wanting to get it all in, like / Xerxes tipping his army’s arrows / with saltpeter / so to ignite the Grecian sky.’

Two Poems

Rae Armantrout

‘A glowing purse / that unlatches / with a snap’

What the Doctor Said

Raymond Carver

‘He said are you a religious man do you kneel down / in forest groves and let yourself ask for help.’

Windrush Reflections

Anthony (Vahni) Capildeo

‘It is not informational, it is / not a blameshift, it is not / all-lives-matter top down and sideways blank.’

Zeus

Fiona Benson

‘days I talked with Zeus / I ate only ice / felt the blood trouble and burn / under my skin’