ABHAY K. sea of innocence exuding amber light —lemur’s eyes (1) * an ascetic meditating turned upside down —the baobab tree (2) * giant eggs in drawing rooms —where have all the elephant birds gone? (3) * always ready for…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE 31 March 2020 When a social welfare state doesn’t seem like such a bad idea: when the Protezione Civile delivers a washable, protective face mask to your post box—gratis. When you live in a country that prioritizes quality of…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE 29 March 2020 A terrible milestone yesterday: 10,000 Italians have died of the virus, 542 in 24 hours in Lombardia where it began its scourging of this most pleasant country. Nurses and doctors, exhausting themselves and dying…
ROGAN WOLF The River Severn is situated to the south west of Great Britain. Its length is 220 miles (354 km) and it is thus the longest river in the UK. Its source is in the Cambrian mountains of mid Wales and…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE Monday, 23 March 2020 Today the Italian government issued a revised form of the auto-dichiarazione (self-declaration) we must all carry when we leave our homes. The new model requires additional details of the bearer’s identity and specific…
SYLVIE MARIE find me Poetry turns paper back into trees – Marie Lundquist find me i’m standing among the others feet planted in a corner knees together my woody trunk rising through my resin pelvis my backbone a stem for…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE My husband and I have been going about life under quarantine much as we would under normal circumstances. We spend part of each day outdoors, working in our gardens, preparing for spring and summer. We brought our…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE 17 March I realized yesterday that going to the supermarket makes me feel anxious. Going indoors almost anywhere except home makes my heart beat faster, my breath go tight and shallow. So I decide I won’t go…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE 16 March By now many of you will have seen online video of Italians singing on their balconies; playing violins, guitars, accordions, electric pianos; banging pans; anything to express their solidarity, defiance and hope and determination to…
JOHN IRVING CLARKE Every hour, as regular as the muezzin calling the faithful, the ferry rumbles in a wide arc across the bay. The engines grumble and the propellers expel a wash which slops loudly against the quayside walls. The…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE 12 March 2020 I’m wondering whether to go to my regular massage appointment this afternoon, whether to cancel having my teeth cleaned tomorrow morning. I can easily print the proper permit to show the carabinieri when I…
LESLIE MCBRIDE WILE Suddenly we’re all in la zona rossa—the red zone—together. The Italian government has taken the extraordinary measure of restricting movement of people throughout the country. Permits to travel between towns are available online, from law enforcement, and (so…
SILVIA PIO (edited by) There was an old woman called Deb who had a crazy idea in her head to hear people’s ills without giving pills but give them poems instead Deborah Alma travels around British fairs and festivals in…
CARLA BURANELLO SLAPSTICK TWIST My heart is old this evening, an old heart wearing a wig of words, absurd dentures of metaphors, his lips tinged with borrowed blood, he fakes a fervour he doesn’t feel. He twirls, winks, somersaults, showing…
A group of poets have written a message to the powerful of the Earth: give our planet back a future and hope to the generations to come. We will continue to ask institutions all over the world to start a…
