INTERVIEW: FIRE & DUST MEETS: LIZ JOLLY
FIRE & DUST MEETS LIZ JOLLY Summer 2018 Each night we sweated, restless, disturbed every morning brought another Perfect Day we were disordered, used to sharing rare bright hope of sun by smiling at strangers. Featureless blue and bloating heat made stark...
INTERVIEW: FIRE & DUST MEETS: MATT BLACK
FIRE & DUST MEETS MATT BLACK TALES FROM THE LEAKING BOOT BY MATT BLACK Iron Press ISBN 978-0995457928 £7.00 /56 pages ‘Write an account of your half-term holiday using complex sentences No, please don’t. Write in simple flames. The joy or horror....
RITUALS POETRY: ‘THE PLAN’ BY RON. LAVALETTE
The Plan Ron. Lavalette Recycled recycling, washed wash. Find a way to avoid the keyboard. See the light: fix the lamp, stow (at last) the Christmas strands. Before anything, coffee. After the landfill and storage, a shower. Maybe a...
RITUALS POETRY: ‘THOSE FUNERAL BLUES’ BY MIKE TOOK
Those Funeral Blues Mike Took I’ve seen good times and bad with you, honey It’s been a long old road I’ve seen all that I had with you, honey And how it’s ebbed and flowed I gave it all, at curtain call, there’s not a penny owed When you close my...
RITUALS POETRY: ‘THE WAY IT’S GOT TO BE’ BY BEN SWEATMAN
The Way It's Got To Be Ben Sweatman Look, I’ve got to do that before I do this I’m not having a laugh or taking the piss. It’s just the way it’s got to be Please accept this, don’t argue with me! I go up and down then round and round Rinse,...
RITUALS POETRY: ‘FOR OBLIVIOUS REASONS’ BY MARY COURTNEY
For Oblivious Reasons Mary Courtney For oblivious reasons We Ritual. To oblate the mind from itself To soothe the self from being its mind To remove the victuals, bitter-meats difficult questions, difficult cancers – To balm the space for the...
RITUALS NON-FICTION: ‘THE ATHEIST’S PILGRIMAGE’ BY ‘APHORIA’
The Atheist’s Pilgrimage 'Aporia' We were on a plane on our way to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The long flight was in search of the Kaaba, which is situated in the centre of Mecca. I, a 16-year-old atheist from London, was excited to go on this trip to...
RITUAL ARTWORK: ‘THE EMPRESS’ BY WANDA FRAGA SÁNCHEZ
The Empress Wanda Fraga Sánchez Wanda Fraga Sánchez de la Campa was born in 1994 in the city of Santa Clara (Cuba), the daughter of a single mother and an emigrant father. Art occupied much of her childhood and was her company, and she...
RITUALS FICTION: ‘BACHELOR CHOW’ BY JAKE KENDALL
Bachelor Chow Jake Kendall Over time the intensity of a relationship can wilt away. A partner can transform slowly from a passionate lover into a glorified comfort blanket. It is an organic process, one that does not allow for fault or blame; neither party...
RITUALS POETRY: ‘RITUAL’ BY GLORIA HEFFERNAN
Ritual Gloria Heffernan It has to be the blue mug, the one that fits my hand like a chalice. The coffee runs through the brewer, and I stir in cinnamon until the aroma fills the room like incense. Maxwell trots into the kitchen to take his...