SEB17
JZ17
SK17
24 Seb 17
Eyes,
eyes
yet more eyes
I can’t get away
owls in my head
accusations
my failings laid bare
what should have been
and the night is still young
I can’t stop dreaming
25 Seb 17
Like a bruised heart
I’m sat at the foot of a tree
lamenting what could have been
a love lost forever
now covered in dust
a place opened up
to bear all my pain
-Francis H. Powell
Barn Owl Curiosity
Full, fat, feathered faces
fearlessly fascinated
by alternate life forms,
form impressions
of the world -take flight.
-Debbie Ross
-Donna Faulkner
Jz 17
Dreams That Never Found a Body
They came in silence,
before the world was named,
hovering in the hollows
between thought and breath.
No blood to warm them,
no hands to hold,
only a flicker
trembling against the dark.
They wandered
through the marrow of clouds,
brushed past unborn stars,
and whispered to the roots of trees.
Some nights
I still feel them,
the weightless ache,
the shadow of a life
that waited,
but was never chosen.
And I wonder
if they miss me,
the way I miss
what I never became.
SEB 17
The Watchers Within
They are always there.
Quiet. Still.
Too many to count.
Not judges.
Not strangers.
Just the ones I left behind
when I became who I had to be.
Some are soft with memory.
Others hold grief like breath.
A few still wait
for me to speak
what I never could.
They do not ask.
They know.
And I wonder,
as they watch from the quiet,
how much of me
is made from what I never said.
SK 17
Vessel of Vibrance
It does not call attention,
yet something in it holds the eye.
Colors that once belonged to hands,
now softened by time and sun.
No ceremony surrounds it,
but it has known devotion.
At the foot of the silent one,
it rests.
Unmoving,
but never empty.
It carries what words cannot.
The hush of prayers whispered without sound.
The warmth of fingers that once placed each offering.
The weight of longing that never asked to be named.
It is not forgotten.
It simply waits,
as all sacred things do,
without demand,
without end.
-Rituparna
Artworker Bios
Jenn Zed
Ms. Zed is an artist, writer, and musician who lives in Bath, England, with the ghost of her cat.
She studied art, art history, and design MA at Bath and Cambridge Universities.
Sara Elizabeth Bell
Says:
I’ve always loved drawing. It’s a form of meditation for me and has now become a way for me to find peace and sanity when my world gets too overwhelming, which, as a single mom with a neuro-divergent teen, happens quite often. When it does, I follow John Muir’s quote, “Off into the woods I go to loose my mind and find my soul.”
The results of those trips are sketches of the forests around me and photos. I work from the photos to create my watercolors and intaglio prints. I hope you enjoy them and can find a place in your home to adopt one or more.
Spriha Kant
Spriha Kant is an English poetess, book reviewer, and digital artist. She has been published in some anthologies — “Hidden in Childhood” and “We Are The Waves,” to name a few. Her poems have also been published in the seventh issue of “Reflections,” the well-known literary magazine “Prosetrics.” She has been the Guest of honor in the award-winning show “Victoria in Verse” (Bloomsbury Radio, London). Her interviews can be read at feversofthemind.com & and brokenspine.co.uk. Her quotes are published as an epigraph and a blurb in Magkasintahan Volume VI & Swiped Right [both books published by Ukiyoto Publishing, Philippines], respectively. Her artwork can be seen in a webzine called “The Starbeck Orion” and on thewombwellrainbow.com.
Writer Bios
Debbie Ross,
Debbie is a poet, author, artist, photographer, and baker. She lives 400m from the sea, in the far north Scottish Highlands, and can be mostly be found in the kitchen, at the beach, or at her writing table.
Matt Guntrip,
Matt Guntrip is a guitarist, song writer and indie musician from the UK. He has published four albums & five singles via CD Baby, available on most channels. He was a nominated solo artist on the New Music Generator Show, Cambridge 105FM.
Through creative writing he explores themes of nature, time, love, loss, rejection, injustice and hope, with a view to learning, improving and thus to writing better songs.
Matt’s writing has been published in The Belfast Review, The Broken Spine, Fevers of The Mind, Folkheart Press Blog, GAS Poetry (YouTube), The Starbeck Orion (Substack) & The Wombwell Rainbow website.
Donna Faulkner,
Donna Faulkner lives in a cottage in Rangiora, New Zealand with her husband , two sons and Emily, the black Labrador. She’s been published in 300 Days of Sun, Havik, Windward Review, Havik, Fieldstone Review, New Myths, Bacopa Literary Review and others. Her debut poetry book ‘In Silver Majesty’ was published by erbacce press(UK) 2024.
Instagram @lady_lilith_poet/ Twitter @nee_miller. https://linktr.ee/donnafaulkner
Alan McGinn,
Anish Gupta,
Dr. Anish K. Gupta is an Indian urologist and an impassioned poet who writes mainly in English but also dabbles in Hindi and Urdu. His work seamlessly intertwines the exactitude of medical science with the subtleties of human emotion. Grounded in the complementary realms of medicine and art, his path reflects a profound quest for understanding, healing, and the expression of love and life. In the operating room or on the page, Dr. Gupta delves into the intricacies of both body and soul, approaching each with care, curiosity, and compassion. His poetry captures the subtle epiphanies of daily life, the fragility of the human condition, and the deep connections between love and existence. He goes by the #uropoet on X where his handle is @optionurol.
Phil Hyde,
Rituparna,
Rituparna Ghosh is an alumna of the National University of Singapore, an AI engineer, and the founder of Whizzstep. With a passion for poetry, she enjoys crafting verses, particularly in the genres of free verse and reflective poetry. A lover of nature, Rituparna finds peace in her walks by the beach, where the tranquility of the ocean inspires both her creativity and personal reflection. Coding is her profession, and she thrives on solving complex problems through technology. She also has a deep love for traveling, reading, learning new languages, and horse riding, connecting with the outdoors in a unique and fulfilling way.
Francis H Powell,
Judy Smith ,
Judy Smith lives in East Yorkshire. Retired from a career in health and education, she is an emerging poet. She has had poems published in several anthologies, including Spelt, 14, Black Bough, Artemis, High Wolds, Dreich, York Literary Review, The Starbeck Orion. She has a passion for wildlife gardening and community tree planting.
Sheikha A,
Sheikha A. is from Pakistan and United Arab Emirates. Her poems appear in a variety of literary venues both print and online, and some of them have been translated into 8 languages so far. More about her can be found at sheikha82.wordpress.com
John Armstrong,
John Armstrong is a poet whose work blends metaphysical inquiry with vivid, elemental imagery. Drawing from a deep reverence for nature, memory, and the cosmic, Armstrong’s poetry explores dualistic and trinitarian themes of love, transformation, and the spiritual texture of existence.Armstrong sees poetry not merely as a literary form but as a living, animistic force—language shaped by the earth itself. His work is a personal quest, a surrender to the unknown, finding beauty in ambiguity and meaning in the mist between words and life.
Spare time: He grows Cosmos flowers and wills them on way past the first frosts.
Saraswati Nagpal,
John Wolf
Creative writing tutor, poet, storyteller for Read To Write. Taught Beowulf, Odyssey, and Troy; Gilgamesh is coming in October. First poetry collection entitled Heroes (Glasshead Press, 2022). New collection, Historia, out summer 2025. Featured on Radio Sheffield, CAST, Little Theatre, Doncaster Ukranian Centre, Artbomb, Doncaster Foodbank Festival, Under Milk Wood and Women of Troy.
Oormila V. Prahlad
is a widely published Indian-Australian artist and poet. She lives and works on traditional Gammergal land. Find her on Instagram @oormila_paintings
The Wombwell Rainbow 