Curls- Hiram Larew

These amazing biases -- Pure as four-sugar coffee Keen and full as smoke Such enchanting vines. They start as guests And become deep homes Or seem like chants from behind -- The echoes that are taken for granted. No matter what we say Or where we go Biases suffer us all gently. They become purry…

I Had A Dream- Attracta Fahy

Demeter walked on High Street, cupped faint light in her hands, afraid it might die. A shaded path on the right, took her feet, the opposite direction to her mentors, men, on the left, bathed in streetlight, inebriated. Their omnipotent puer walked to the water in Nimos pier, brothers in arms, in need. Prisms of…

Sisyphus’ Reprieve- PJ Moore

Sisyphus’ stiff little fat fingers sink into poor wet turf, turning out dated fuel from reluctant earth. Ousted copper backed beetles run gauntlets, along endless hoppers. Unlucky ones rush into the crush of a size twelve foot, or falling sod.   Morning mist slowly lifts   Sisyphus’ stooped march. Drilling grudge bearing midge clouds Into…

Vigil- Attracta Fahy

I walk a vigil to my parish, over the five fairy forts, climb church stiles that once led believers to Mass. Four paths, through fields to the 17th century church, hidden amongst overgrowth, bramble, briar, whitethorn, and clump. Only faint outlines of stone, hidden in ruin: time’s watermark. Walls speak in silence, our history, famine,…

Sore Heads- Sara Kenny

Foggy heads knock together on the morning after the night before My underwear and dress distastefully discarded gracing your messy bedroom floor Limbs winding together in a mess of an awkward embrace I cursed under my breath “Christ my headache” You said, “next time your place?” I stumbled across your bedroom Standing on last nights…

Stone- Attracta Fahy

Just steps from the cathedral dome, a moment, illusion, touch its olive green skin, stark against stone. Never so far away when near…   Beginning, I stand at Tanaí, the arched portal, stone, housed those with fever, the Lime Kiln helped cure. Their cranes call the faces in stone, cholera spirits to a new journey,…

To Wither by Degrees Steven Denehan

Memories teeter on a volcanos edge waiting for a gentle breeze His skin, creased soft folds deepening as we talk of nothing and everything My love, a boundless love rushes in to fill these empty spaces A day is coming I can hear it, a distant marching band, when only my love will remain

Unnatural Things- Niamh Crosbie

Her reflection glistened in the golden sheen of the chalice as she turned it over in her hand and polished the rim of the cup. The warped vision of her face gazed back at her, with eyeballs and cheeks that seemed to sink even further into her skull than they had the week before. At…

The Last Days of Albert Hicks- Patrick Hodgins

April is always cold. Albert Hicks had his mats and his cardboard and his old sleeping bag. The light was fading as he bunkered down in the shop. The irony not lost on him but here he thought he would be safe. He ate his sandwich, given by a passer by, drank some water, rain…

Nine Pairs of Shoes- Antoinette Rock

In the cupboard nine pairs of shoes all red all the same, gather dust. She keeps too much, she thinks. He gives too much. She doesn't share well. He shares from the Heart. He believes less is more. The rich have less but they hold more. Good will come, she thinks, through the hall door.