Iain Britton: ‘sunlight squints at distortions
trapped in tinted glass /
a ceremony breaks black bread
the wind creaks the floorboards /’

Conor Robin Madigan: ‘The south borders of the country rage in conflagration. His happiness at this moves his feet back and forth upon themselves under the covers and he fits an entire halved buttered toast into his mouth before smiling through his orange and soda. After his meal he tries to pull his legs from the tangled bedclothes but falls to the floor and flounders there until he hears the caretaker coming down the great hall and his anxiety mounts him to commit to freeing himself. At once he vanishes to the bathroom. Such a mess of a man.’

Alex Houen: ‘Spring out of touch makes the blood count for nothing,/
Sugar. Till I saw you and felt an instant tense erase/
all before me – a microwave pinging its chicken burrito/
back to adolescence. ‘