Author Archives: Cat Chong

𓆩*𓆪 things happenunapprovedarid daysdays of colour sometimes the potsswarmat othersbarely a puddle I learn to bless myselfbend cursesinto formsI can use to open doorsrusted shut for yearswhere light reachesits limit recoils ࣛࣚ ࢯ so much to live for –today it was God. behold the fieldin which I grow. unforgettable singinganimal, get ready. Stephen Sunderland DrContinue reading “Stephen Sunderland: extracts from ‘Unforgettable Singing Animal’”

“When I consider how my light is spent…”John Milton, Sonnet 19 This may be my last message. I am resorting to this after sending messages to you for two days, you, waiting at Charles de Gaulle for the flight to Tunis, the smell of burnt sugars and fish, pain aux framboise at the bakery aroundContinue reading “Georgia San Li: Urgently to You in the Past”

I’m here 1. Spawned by burning trees, I inhale a mother’s fear of fire. Craving a home, I choose to be a stranger. Now I’m a kite flying high, tethered to a bench at Kelly’s. Soundwaves roll and churn within these walls, sweet resonance undermy skin. Tunes tumble through me and the undertow conjures longed-forContinue reading “B. Anne Adriaens: extracts from ‘GO FORTH AND MULTIPLY’”

there is a slip of [breeze] / it is mellow [smooth] like / cotton / birds [they are] chirping / while [the sun is] somewhere / parted / in the [blue sky] / and the smooth feel of [these hours] feels / nice [it feels okay] I think to [stay here] because [the sun is]Continue reading “Emma Grey Rose: Cotton Slips of Birds”

The Cars are all honking on driveways.Passengers disembark, heading in for a good time.They want someone else’s food, fun, Beer and laughs.If everyone only knew,what happens behind closed doors,and curtained windows.The Neighbours watchthe Neighbourhood Watchconvene to discuss the Wild Parties everyone else is having. Benjamin Macnair Ben Macnair is an award-winning poet and playwright fromContinue reading “Benjamin Macnair: A Wild Party”

Nadiya Aamer Nadiya writes regularly for online publications including The Aleph Review and RIC (ric.com). She used to write under a pseudonym up until recently when she decided to own herself finally.  The Aleph Review has published two of her poems in their yearly publication in the year 2021 and 2023. This is a paperbackContinue reading “Nadiya Aamer: Poem for Gaza”

Afraid of what the world will doyou feed the birds in your white cotton dress like Aquinas tousling with the good ending,pulling back your hair, tying back your hair as if you know how many angels dance on the head of a pin,as if you know that fingernails grow after the resurrection. Those were theContinue reading “Damon Hubbs: Glad Days”

Allow us to be familiar with each other’s faceAnd lazy days like lost dogs Allow the day to be grey and bleakAnd take us by the scruff of our necks Allow us to wear cloaksAnd exchange passing fancies Allow us to forget dates, addressesAnd conversations like clockwork Allow the days for proseAnd nights for poemsContinue reading “Junaid Ahmed Ahangar: ALLOW US”

Rivers Contain Silence Ten thousand rivers,one flowing atop the other,each emptying into its own emptiness:this is the book of my life. Leverage What stands in the mindas impediments I can’t get hands to lift.It keeps words from wedging under the heft of the world. Tributaries Rivers run high through air,through blood, currentswhere the material didContinue reading “Edward A. Dougherty: ‘Rivers Contain Silence’, ‘Leverage’, ‘Tributaries’, ‘Seeing Through the Rain’, and ‘Open Wing, Clinging Claw’”