Exmouth – Edward Alport

 

I took my problems to my old friend, the sea.

He watched me with his flashing eyes

And spoke to me with seven foaming lips.

I poured out my problems

And he poured them right back again.

 

Now that I’m sitting, like a stone on a rock,

Now the beach-huts are deserted,

And all the lovers have gone home,

He’s still there;

He’s still there;

The still small voice

Of endless noise,

Wearing at my loneliness.

 

 

Edward Alport is a proud Essex Boy and occupies his time as a teacher, gardener and writer for children. He has had poetry published in a variety of webzines and magazines. When he has nothing better to do he posts snarky micropoems on Twitter as @cross_mouse.

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February 21, 2020 by foxglovejournal Categories: PoetryTags: beach, creative, creativity, Edward Alport, Essex, Exmouth, eyes, friend, home, lips, loneliness, nature, noise, poem, Poetry, problems, rock, sea, speech, stone, UK, voice, writing Leave a comment

Chocolate – Robert Beveridge

 

If I could take a drop

of honey from the tongue of Satan,

 

or dip my silver chalice

in an Erewhon river of chocolate,

 

I would feed you, my lips to yours.

 

Instead I have filled my mouth

with words, my cup

with water from a mudpuddle

 

still I ask you

take your nourishment

from me

 

 

Robert Beveridge makes noise (xterminal.bandcamp.com) and writes poetry in Akron, OH. Recent/upcoming appearances in Savant-Garde, Other People’s Flowers, and The Indiana Horror Review, among others.

July 19, 2018July 19, 2018 by foxglovejournal Categories: PoetryTags: chalice, chocolate, creative, creativity, cup, drop, feed, food, honey, lips, mouth, nourishment, OH, poem, Poetry, river, Robert Beveridge, silver, sweet, US, water, words, writing Leave a comment

Bird watching – J V Birch

 

I watch a pair of lorikeets gorge on overripe peaches. They hook the ample flesh with their beaks chattering between mouthfuls, their green the green of the leaves so only the vivid blue of their heads is visible, with an occasional blaze of breast. I think of the women at the café in Brighton. Every Sunday they sit at a window table slurping tea and cream cakes, heads bent in gossip, oblivious to their surrounds and smeared lips. At that time, in their world, it’s just them. I note the silence, feel watched, look up to find the parrots staring at me, a couple of plump sunsets untouched at their feet.

 

J V Birch lives in Adelaide. Her poems have appeared in anthologies, journals and magazines across Australia, the UK, Canada and the US. She has two collections – Smashed glass at midnight and What the water & moon gave me – published by Ginninderra Press, and is currently working on her third. She blogs at www.jvbirch.com.

September 19, 2017 by foxglovejournal Categories: PoetryTags: animals, Australia, birds, blue, colours, communication, creative, creativity, fauna, food, fruit, gossip, green, humanity, J V Birch, lips, nature, peaches, poet, Poetry, wildlife, world, writing 2 Comments

Spider – Natalie Crick

 

The whisper

Wicks from her lips.

A soothing salve.

 

She bends, twists,

Feet touching the walls

In eight different places.

 

Her laurels always rove.

Search.

Hold.

 

Gagging the dawn chorus

Until

The hunger moon thins.

 

Dissecting a house fly,

She commits

Murder on the brightest window,

 

At first frost

Opens the door

Without a guest to feast.

 

Natalie Crick, from the UK, has poetry published or forthcoming in a range of journals and magazines including Interpreters House, Ink In Thirds, The Penwood Review, The Chiron Review and Rust and Moth. Her work also features or is forthcoming in a number of anthologies, including Lehigh Valley Vanguard Collections 13. This year her poem ‘Sunday School’ was nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

April 25, 2017 by foxglovejournal Categories: PoetryTags: animals, body, creative, creativity, dawn, door, fauna, feet, frost, home, hunger, lips, moon, movement, Natalie Crick, nature, poem, Poetry, salve, UK, whisper, window, writing Leave a comment

Daily devotion – Katherine Henderson

 

Lay your foundation

Use beauty-blender

Cover all over

Smooth out from centre

Conceal everything

Out of place or uneven

Shed light on dark circles

Put away blemishes for later

Pinch your cheeks

Set with powder

Sculpt brows into archways

Where men will try and find you

Prime and pigment eyelids

A bright, matte white

Is a quick-fix face lift

Draw jet-black spine down lash line

End in wings

Dress lashes in black for lift

 

Always end with the lips

Start where you sulk

Scalpel sharp tip draws blood

Outline in red

Stay in the lines

Blot twice

Draw your finger

Through your lips

Get rid of excess.

 

Katherine is a poet, blogger and essayist based in Edinburgh. Her blog – Pin Ups and Panic Attacks – looks at vintage fashion, lifestyle and self-care. She dabbles in crafting and is working on a series of drawings called #projectladybutts that celebrates all kinds of femme beauty.

February 18, 2017 by foxglovejournal Categories: Poetry, UncategorizedTags: beauty, blood, blot, body, creative, creativity, daily, devotion, eyelids, foundation, hiding, Katherine Henderson, lashes, light, lips, make-up, poem, Poetry, routine, spine, UK, wings, writing Leave a comment