ANTIHERO ~ Rupert M Loydell

ANTIHERO

     time travel

historical memory

          work your magic

bloodline melodrama

     liar's web

          work your magic

unauthorized walk in the park

     (never thought i would)

          secret rhythm

          silent proof

     familiar gone missing

DERAILMENT ~ Rupert M Loydell

DERAILMENT

in the land of love & famine

there is a wild wind blowing

     she closed her eyes

     viewed fireworks from afar

     turned herself inside out

     went walking with the beast

one last question

will you still hold me

     in the dark?

     i have found my nervous system

          am tragically unsound

        (you take away my heart)

DOWNRIVER ~ Rupert M Loydell

DOWNRIVER

improvised shimmer

     oblivion song

          chromium water

     fluoride kiss

charcoal landmarks

     remain so

i am tired of giving up

    flooded lungs

    drowning belief

          only so much what

     strange animal songs

suggestions for walking alone

          the long sun gone

     can't see the sky

Hold ~ Anna Frances Conway

One,
You congratulate yourself 

Two, 
The invincible kicks in

Three,
The sting kicks in 

Four,
Bell jar rumbles 

Five,
You hear that fist muscle

Six,
You wonder if you can stay

Seven,
Nothing is on fire

Eight,
Your insides are on fire

Nine,
You forget what fire is

Ten
You consider it, teeth monster in your head —

breathe in.

Gone over ~ Tim Youngs

That bare patch
where you stood
playing catch

is still there
brought to mind
by the knock

on our door.
A child for
his ball back.

Soirée ~ Tim Youngs

The plastic coaster:

its pattern obscured


by cigarette burns

and Mother’s anger

Drift ~ Tim Youngs


red spots
on Dad’s white Cortina

standing
in our Bedfordshire driveway

particles
blown from the Sahara

falling
with home counties rain






Tim Youngs’ poems have appeared in several print and online magazines, including The Interpreter’s House, The Journal, Lighthouse, London Grip, Poetry Salzburg Review and Staple. 

Minds Under Arrest ~ Paul Waring

they chart choreography
and mechanism of moves             
then thunder down doors
at the dark side of dawn
with barking mouths and feet


it's in their dna
to remove fibres of yours
distilling essence for clues
from every nook and cranny


scour your sink for germs
from scrubbed hard drives
of mind   words and images
lurking deep behind eyes


strip search sheets for signs
of wrong dreams  examine
soiled linen of thought take
some away for questioning

On Nights ~ Paul Waring

Darkness draws curtains
in bible black ink. Bat clouds
suffocate corners of sky


as another canvas dies
moon magnets drag corneas
of shuttered eyes towards sleep


where memory knits
rows of experience
that scarf into morning.

Memory Thief ~ Paul Waring

the past slips in and out from
cubby-holes of consciousness
keeping the known
from the knowing
dropping clues
onto tips of tongues
agonisingly close to recall        
details shredded by thieving
magpies of memory, now
abandoned like party guests
waiting to be introduced.



Paul Waring, a retired clinical psychologist lives in Wirral, UK. He once designed menswear and, in the 1980's, was a singer/songwriter in several Liverpool bands. His work has been published in Reach Poetry and will feature in forthcoming issues of Eunoia Review, Amaryllis and Northampton Poetry.