The UK & Irish Poetry Issue

UK & Irish Poetry Issue

Poetry by Rebecca Perry, Jon Stone, Mike Barlow, Deborah Levy, Crispin Best, Sean O’Brien, Bobby Parker, Jo Bell, Jack Underwood, Rebecca Tamás, Ryan Van Winkle, Alistair Noon, Angela Topping, Emily Berry, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Martha Sprackland, Edward Ragg, Annie Freud, Luke Kennard, Annie Brechin, Justin Quinn, Clare Pollard, David Wheatley, Lindsey Holland, Mark Granier, Kirsten Irving, Daniel Sluman, Richie McCaffery, Zoë Skoulding, and Marion McCready. An interview with Jack Underwood.

November 8, 2014

Marion McCready

POEM FOR A GARDEN Prologue And what do the smash of rhododendrons know? A squall of them spilling over the wall –

November 7, 2014

Zoë Skoulding

CRÉTEIL After Les Choux de Créteil by Gérard Grandval (1969-1974) For Jesús Torres Garcia it’s the end of the lilac line and

November 7, 2014

Richie McCaffery

SOLO What’s the first thing you do in a house you suspect is haunted? You sing. Singing somehow gives you a protective refrain.

November 7, 2014

Daniel Sluman

THE REALISATION no New York-skyline-moment no dark fumblings smashed pale with ecstasy on the sofa no violets in the morning coffee the two

November 7, 2014

Kirsten Irving

A DAUGHTER ‘Heavens keep the newborn infant from starblasting and moonblasting, from epilepsy, marasmus, and the devil!’ When I’m lying, listening

November 6, 2014

Mark Granier

FRENCH Mr Feutren (Fruity) isn’t from France but Brittany. Important. Make no mistake. Something –– anger? passion? –– has shorn his face

November 6, 2014

Lindsey Holland

PARTING SHOT The light’s just right. If you come outside I’ll take your portraits. I don’t know why but I didn’t think

November 5, 2014

David Wheatley

ALTITUDE MIGRANTS Laid plateau-wide like a tablecloth the snow and winter is set. Blin drift, sneepa, owerblaw, skifter, feucher, skirlie, wauff. Turning

November 5, 2014

Clare Pollard

THE HUMAN BOY howls behind bars at night, in germfree dark. This is called ‘learning to self-soothe’. His comforter’s a polyester dinosaur,

November 4, 2014

Justin Quinn

IRISH BAR, PHILADELPHIA Now they’re postmodern. They talk about the Cause purely to get a rise out of the git who’s Irish and

November 4, 2014

Annie Brechin

COMMENT FAIRE L’AMOUR I dream about the good sex, the kind that makes you come just from the memory. A fuck so

November 3, 2014

Luke Kennard

THE AUTHOR In 1967 Cain killed the author. This was a disaster for everyone. Now language is a prison, true communication is

November 3, 2014

Annie Freud

ZALUZIANSKYA All along the road to Sutton Bingham, I kept saying your name – Zaluzianskya, Zaluzianskya – so as not to forget

October 31, 2014

Edward Ragg

THE SOLITUDE OF SEEING How solitary it is on this uniquely unpolluted morning to watch and to listen not quietly but silently… Their

October 30, 2014

Martha Sprackland

ANATOLI BUGORSKI after the Russian scientist who in 1974 survived 200,000 rads through his head in a particle accelerator accident Anatoli, I

October 29, 2014

Doireann Ní Ghríofa

BIRTHBURST many months, to float in warmth womb-wet swell stirred with each murmur of her world until surges begin Now the caesarean slice

October 28, 2014

Emily Berry

I stood at the dangerous shore. / Sleeves rolled up to my shoulders. / My fringe lifted in the wind in a long salute and I pushed it back. / Live your wish, Live your wish, said the sea.

October 27, 2014

Angela Topping

TREASON I’ve always hated Henry, stared out his pompous self-important portrait in Liverpool’s Walker, him tarted up like a wedding cake encrusted with

October 24, 2014

Alistair Noon

THE FUZZY DASHES FUZZY DOTS The fuzzy dashes fuzzy dots tapped out on mitochondrial blots show Lower Saxons steering tractors share a

October 23, 2014

Ryan Van Winkle

STOCKING I licked her down and decided it was good her damp stockings three runs up the side one for each meal it

October 22, 2014

Rebecca Tamás

____________________________________________________________________ From EXTINCT SPECIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES ____________________________________________________________________ GREY WHALE 500BC The song is not saying look

October 21, 2014

Jack Underwood

THE CAFÉ The coffee in the café tastes like it first evaporated off the surface of a motorway a hot July ten

October 20, 2014

Jo Bell

FAIR PLAY Men, believe me. If in doubt just look her in the eye and say I want to fuck you.

October 17, 2014

Bobby Parker

THANK YOU FOR SWALLOWING MY CUM I tell cats on the street, ‘Hey kitty, she swallowed my cum!’ I told the shy Indian

October 16, 2014

Sean O’Brien

AT THE SOLSTICE We say Next time we’ll go away. But then the winter happens, like a secret We’ve to keep

October 15, 2014

Crispin Best

MY GOD you have no idea of the distances i would travel just to disappoint you i will even wear a fashionable

October 14, 2014

Deborah Levy

AN AMOROUS DISCOURSE IN THE SUBURBS OF HELL (an extract) She i said nothing i said nothing i said looking

October 10, 2014

Mike Barlow

THE DEAL Ten hours it took, give or take. Longer than brain surgery. But we had a deal. The room exploded with

October 9, 2014

Jon Stone

THE ONE AND THE OTHER after Natural Bust Enlargement with Total Power: How to Increase the other 90% of Your Mind to Increase

October 8, 2014

Rebecca Perry

THE EXECUTION OF LADY JANE GREY Executioner: X Lady Jane Grey: J X: In your own time. J: Yes. X: You

October 6, 2014

The Interview: Jack Underwood

_______________________________________________________________________ All this October B O D Y will be publishing British and Irish poetry. We begin with an interview with poet Jack

October 3, 2014