Wednesday January 11th and every
Wednesday onwards.
Next meeting
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If you were to rub your eyes.
If you were to rub your eyes
and think again
you will remember, (though you’re struggling with the memory now),
you asked me
what sort of flowers they were,
but I only remembered their scent;
I was afraid to let you know my ignorance.
I walk in the opposite direction
I walk
in the opposite direction to everyone else
going about the business of the day
meeting no one
everyone has fear etched upon their faces
and wisps of grey fog in their mouths
heads bowed
intent on not meeting someone’s eye
trying to be on time
like school children behind their desks
before the master walks in.
I spied her
I spied her
on the other
side of the path
fastening on to a twig
churning over and over
the same repeating thought
fanning the vast endless void
creating from her own tiny point
trying to make new connections land.
A fly fisherman casting a noiseless thread
scheming the boulder with a torrent either side
not letting anyone know her methodical curdling.
Flash News – ‘Imperfect’ Book Launch – 19th May @Black Books Cafe, Stroud, 7.30pm
Front cover design: @Andrew Morrison
We had to stop the car several times.
Weeks of anxious waiting finally ended.
A new, small, wrinkled, bloody, placental book
Arrived.
It had a natural birth and I called it ‘Imperfect’.
The book launch will be on Friday 19th May 2017, at Black Books Cafe, Stroud. 7.30pm for 8pm start. Free entry.
The book is available for pre-order at mariastadnicka@yahoo.co.uk.
The evening will be a vibrant performance with poetry and music, featuring Maria Stadnicka, Adam Horovitz, Katie McCue and ‘Souled and Healed’.
Yew Tree Press – Philip Rush
Design and printer – Andrew Morrison
Books, drinks, sounds will be available! Come along!
my future self
I left my future self
a message in a bottle
I see a face that’s younger
and all the wrong way round
left is right and forward’s back
my name’s spelt incorrectly
I no longer recognise myself.
Marcus Blackett
I saw i and the sky this morning
in a drop of dew on a rosebud
the savage spiders of the mind ceased
and in that tremble of reflection
there was everything and nothing
Every dog bull in a candle when all is axe
Since today’s yesterday’s tomorrow dogs dogs dogs
The price of bulls in China’s twice as much as hogs hogs hogs
Making candles without wicks isn’t worth the wax wax wax
Where what you said not when will grind the same old axe axe axe
The Field
The barley is gold and green,
with marginal notes
of seeds and whiskers.
The field is combed
and stamped with tractor tracks.
Against the fence, a scarecrow
stands sleeping.
frustration ocean
Frustration ocean calamity; calamity, calamity
frustration ocean calamity; frustration, frustration
frustration ocean calamity; ocean, ocean
frustration ocean calamity;
; iron; ; ; iron; ; ; iron; ; ; iron;; ; ;
desiccated iron ;
iron , iron , desiccated iron ;
iron , iron , desiccated iron ;
iron , iron desiccated iron; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
ae -r – ial ; ; ; ;
aer – ial ; ; ;
aerial ; ;
; gurgling ebony
ebony gurgling
gurgling ebony
ebony gurgling
gurgling ebony
ebony gurgling
gurgling ebony
ebony gurgling.
magnificence ; ; ;
magnificence ; ; ;
magnificence ; ; ;
sleep ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
scarecrow fence , scarecrow fence ,
Stamp comb oil dream
scarecrow fence
scarecrow fence , scarecrow fence ,
Stamp comb oil dream
scarecrow fence
oil comb dream stamp
gesture heroic
comb stamp dream oil
heroic gesture
dream oil Stamp comb
gesture heroic
stamp dream oil Comb
heroic gesture
oil Stamp comb dream
gesture heroic
stamp oil dream comb
heroic gesture
comb stamp oil dream
gesture heroic
notational ; ; ; margins ; ; ; gold ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
notational ; , margins , gold ; ; ; ; !
Photos from the Stroud Short Stories event
All came out blank as the readers were not only shy they were invisible
Stroud Writers 