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Dog Days

James Lasdun

‘Blizzard died. I’m remembering / his limitless affection.’

Blueberries

James Lasdun

‘I thought I’d do it while I still could.’

Snakes

Dorothea Lasky

‘In this life // There is always time // To make a comeback’

Never did amount to anything

Dorothea Lasky

‘Hi there, dear sister, I’m sad / But here to tell you / That you never did amount to anything’

[3. Ekphrastic]

Nam Le

‘Tinge of colour decay.’

Poetry by Nam Le.

The Price You See Reflects the Poor Quality of the Item and Your Lack of Desire for It

Melissa Lee-Houghton

‘I walk away from you / without glancing back, in case you see in me something I don’t.’

Four Poems

Sylvia Legris

‘Carboniferous cockroach. / Gregarious cockroach.’

The Heart Compared to a Seed, c.1508 (after Leonardo da Vinci)

Sylvia Legris

‘noce, the heart—the nut that gestates the tree of veins.’

Three Poems

Sylvia Legris

‘By the dog the minced oaths, / the god-wounds, the solemnly / declared chronical maladies.’

Three Poems

Sylvia Legris

‘Narcotic, / unworldly, a toxic doctrine / of undivine retribution.’

Best Book of 1891: The Birds of Manitoba

Sylvia Legris

‘During the pandemic, birds (along with many insects and wild plants) have landed in my life and poems again.’

Eliphaz

Raven Leilani

‘I sent messages in nine point font / arcing through the Internet, asking him / do you believe in our heavenly Father?’

Dilation

Ben Lerner

‘My role in the slaughter doesn’t disqualify the beauty I find in all / forms of sheltered flame.’