Siren

(for Rachel Wall)

Tears in her voice skip
stones across the waves
from a schooner ripped
like a harpooned shark,
the sails limp fins,
this woman pale and screaming
begs: please help me stay afloat.
I’m all alone out here.

All alone. Poor thing,
she cries a prophecy
before you meet your end,
before her hidden men
scream scrambling over the railings
of your vessel—

They’re all dead,
dead, no survivors;
it’s nothing but a ghost ship now.

Rachel Wall was an American pirate active off the coast of Massachusetts at the end of the 18^th century. She worked with her husband George Wall and their crew, pretending to be the sole survivor of a shipwreck, so that when other boats came to her aid, the Walls and their men would attack and kill the crew, taking the ship’s cargo for their own.

Kate Garrett’s poetry has…

The LitFest and Fringe team are nursing aches, pains, and smiling faces after a busy but wonderful festival week. Last Friday night saw us split between the Greek classicism of Natalie Haynes at The Hive and the Big Fat Quiz taking place at Titania, while Saturday morning calmed things down slightly with our children’s workshop at the wonderful St John’s library.

Things wouldn’t stay quiet for long, though! Saturday night, at Worcester Arts Workshop, LitFest and friends opened their arms to some top class London talent. We had an intimate evening of poetry and performance from Robert Cole, Math Jones, and Keleigh Wolf. A fabulous evening was had by all in attendance and we left on a grand high ready for the TWO slams that we had pencilled in for the following day.

Sunday evening saw us head back to Drummonds where we kicked the evening’s events off with a…

June 20th is World Refugee Day an international observance dedicated to raising awareness of the situation of refugees throughout the world.

Stock Photo  © David Snyder

As Worcestershire Poet Laureate I invite you to write poems about the refugee crisis or indeed experience. Selected poems will be published here  https://worcestershirepoetlaureateninalewis.wordpress.com/

Send your submissions to worcspl[at]gmail[dot]com by 9pm (GMT) on Tuesday 20th June.

Include a short bio (50 words), in addition, let us know where you live.

Please send poems in body of email or as attached Word doc.

Max. of 3 poems

Previously published work will be considered, you must retain the rights and include full acknowledgement of the publication.

If you are unlikely to submit work please sign a petition http://www.unhcr.org/refugeeday/us/

To help (if you need it) I have gathered these websites and images on the webpages could be used as initial stimuli.

http://www.un.org/en/events/refugeeday/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/20/world-refugee-day-which-images-make-you-stop-and-think/

http://www.unhcr.org/refugeeday/

https://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/un/world-refugee-day

It’s been another wild couple of days for the Worcestershire LitFest and Fringe team! Wednesday night we welcomed The Anti Poet with open arms to appear at our Festival 42 Special. An evening devoted to gothic, horror, and sci-fi literature, a host of marvellous open mic performers were rolled out ahead of our headliners taking to the stage. The venue was packed and performance-ready from the off for this formidable pair of (anti) poets and by all accounts they did not disappoint! A stellar evening was had by all down at Drummonds and we’d like to thank everyone who attended, and everyone who performed, for making this such a crackin’ event in the LitFest calendar.

Last night saw the return of LitFest’s monthly open mic event, SpeakEasy, also celebrating its festival special and my, oh my, what a special it was! The outrageous Pete the Temp took to the stage…

If you haven’t checked in with the Worcestershire LitFest and Fringe team yet this year then you really are missing out! We have been dotted at various venues around Worcester City Centre since last Friday, rolling out a stellar display of literary talent.

Our most recent events were Monday night’s Worcester Writers’ Circle and Friends’ evening, that took the form of Short Stories, Sketches, and Scurrilous Scribings. I am delighted to say that this evening was an absolute cracker of an event! We laughed, we emphasised, we shook our heads and groaned, and overall it was a marvellous evening with a supportive audience.

Last night saw something different brought to LitFest. The Hive, in partner with our fine selves, housed a theatrical work titled The Murderer – inspired by the Luke Kennard poem of the same name – performed by Clown Funeral. We didn’t know what to expect – although…

Yes, it is me!

Pictured – Suz Winspear Worcestershire Poet Laureate 2016/17, Nina Lewis & Steve Wilson – County Arts Development Officer.

Kieran Davis © 2017

Knitting

A grey woman, who should be sitting in a rocking chair,
sits instead on a straight-backed stool, her eyes closed,
knitting a scarf – yellow and blue, my first school colours.

I sit on the floor, watching as it grows, listening
to the click of the needles and the tick of a clock
echoing from an empty room at the front of the house.

She knits fast, but the scarf grows faster, billowing
in coils at her feet, crawling higher like morning mist
until it drapes my shoulders, caresses my throat.

Faster it grows, probing my mouth, snaking inside,
down to my guts, warming my belly, then nudging up
into my head, implacably pushing from my ears and nose.

There’s a gentle tickling growing behind my eyes before
it slips under my prickling lids. The needles now move
on their own, the stool stands empty. I turn to the…