FHP09

MO9

GPH9 Two Teddies

FHP – 9

The Two of Us

We are odd ducks, perhaps a bit strange,
or weird some would say, in whispers,
perhaps its cause we don’t feel so plain?

Not the strange animal shaped slippers
which you use for a mad puppet show
where one of them is an inappropriate stripper.

Perhaps.. its the various voices we throw
like a bad ventriloquist with a talking arse
whilst looking like we both don’t know

To be honest I hope we get full marks
for being so much more than just a farce.

Dave Ashley

MO9 

Beach Fire 

White surf shatters along the blue edge,
leaving the shore scored
with faint traces of passing bodies.
Smoke lifts in uncertain lines,
threading moonlight through its trembling spine. 

Faces gather in the fire’s pulse,
laughter rises,
sharp, uneven,
trying to stitch itself
to the ocean’s shifting murmur. 

But the dark folds in,
quiet as a closing book. 

And somewhere beyond the reach of flame,
the tide waits,
patient as a held breath,
ready to reclaim
what the light leaves behind.

Jen Thorne

UNDAUNTED (MO9)

The daughters 
daub dauphinoise
with vast amounts of butter.

They are reclaiming the fat,
the feast,
the taste.

They stand beneath the kingdom of heaven
redeemed.

Sue Finch

GPH09 

In the surf we splashed
we were the waves…

the sea now receded
like hairlines

we sit — 
stuffed 
with memories —
on a wire fence

C. Oulens

In View of the Sea 
(GPH09 MO9)
 
Tied down to a fence 
In view of the sea 
And forced to watch 
The children play 
I did that once, 
In time gone by 
But I can only 
Wonder why 
It stopped.  
What happened 
To my joy, 
Now I've forgot 
That little boy 
That used to sprint 
Along the shore  
Since childhood  
Has locked its doors 
To me

Luke Meyers

Brutally Outmanoeuvred
 
is critical. Rich folk must finance smart.
Look how much you've changed emotionally
Now could be your perfect moment. Take part
has seriously never happily
 
happened before. You're body is starving
inside. A tree grows out of your head. Crowned
You work your way through forests of moving
treeheads. Topmost branches bound/unbound.
 
"I don't want you to." she says as I reach 
to rescue both her red and green teddy 
squashed tight into the wire fence at the beach.
"You look after them for next time, Daddy."
 
Rising costs as the sirens go off. Blasts. 
'This was not on my bingo card." he gasps.

Paul Brookes

Phil Hyde

GP Hyde was born on the Wirral and now lives in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, UK. He studied fine art and photography at Goldsmith’s College and at the Royal Academy Schools. He worked in theatre, art centres and community arts as a photographer, writer and production manager for 14 years and as a lecturer and senior manager in creative arts for 25 years.

His photography has been featured in Underbelly Press in issues 5 and 6. His influences include Tony Ray Jones, Martin Parr and Tom Wood.

socials: @gphydeauthor

Francis H Powell

Francis H. Powell studied both painting and printmaking at art schools in Britain, obtaining a Master of Arts degree. Since leaving art school, he has participated in exhibitions in both the UK and France, including group exhibitions and solo shows. His work ranges across paintings, drawings, mixed media, sculptures, and installations, sometimes incorporating political themes, such as plastic waste in the sea. His installations also include soundscapes and video. In addition to his visual art, his illustrations have been included in books.  

Below is a list of exhibitions…

Exhibitions 20252024//2023 Salon d’art de Moret-Loing-et-Orvanne

2022 show Studio 58, Brittany 2015 One man show Style Pixie Gallery 2008 one man show gallerie L’Usine Paris 2007 one man show Theatre du Poche. Chartres. 2006 l’église de L’hôpital de la Salpêtrière 2006 Carrousel du Louvre 2005 Group Exhibition IVY Gallery Bastille 2005 Vente Art Contemporain, Paris and Marseille. (for Aides charity) 2001 Live Art Show le Divan du Monde Paris. 1987 Final Post graduate show, Wimbledon School of Art. 1987 Royal Society of Painter, Etchers and Engravers, Bankside Gallery 1986 “In and out of print”, Swiss College Library Exhibition Hall 1985 Studies in composition (the Professor studio) the Royal College of Art 1983 Leicestershire Collection for schools and Colleges Baumanor Hall 1983 Stowells Trophy Royal Academy 1983 Windsor and Newton Finalist Royal Institute of Painters Mall Gallery Studied at 1985-87 Wimbledon School of Art MA printmaking. 1979-80 Eastbourne College of Art 1980-83 Glos College of Art and Technology BA (Hons) painting  

Author Bios:

Jen Thorne

C. Oulens 

is an emerging poet and former academic from India. Winner of the 3rd Annual Poe-It Like Poe 2025 poetry contest, her work has been published or is forthcoming in The Broken Spine, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, The Candyman’s Trumpet, Eunoia Review, Spillwords Press, The Starbeck Orion, Temple in a City, Sixty Odd Poets, SHINE International, The Book Bag, FromOneLine, SciFanSat, Verseve and in haiku journals including Pan Haiku Review, 575 Haiku Journal, Poetry Pea, The Wee Sparrows, Haiku Pause, The Solitary Daisy, Folk Ku, Failed Haiku, and Heterodox Haiku. Explore her works on Bluesky @owlnsquirrels1111.bsky.social.

Jane Sharp

Donna Faulkner

lives in Christchurch, New Zealand. Free spirited and unconventional, she came to the business of writing later in life. She’s published in The Madrid Review , Alchemy Spoon,  The Bayou Review, 300 Days of Sun, Windward Review, Havik, New Myths, and many others. Her poetry book In Silver Majesty was published by the UK based erbacce press in 2024.https://www.erbacce-press.co.uk/donna-faulkner

Instagram: @lady_lilith_poet  X@nee_miller  

Website: https://linktr.ee/donnafaulkner

Lin Hart

Lin describes herself as a poet, satirist, and zinester from West Virginia. A married, mother of two who eats numbers for work and is definitely a neurospicy cryptid in disguise. Find out more on Bluesky.

Luke Meyers

Luke is a Welsh performer and poet who discovered a love of writing during the lockdown. Luke mainly writes on Bluesky @sonnetsmith.bsky.social but has also been published in a couple of publications, including the British Fantasy Journal, Icebrakers Lit. Muse Pie Press, From One Line, and Oatleaf Poetry Journal.

Sue Finch

Sue Finch is the author of Magnifying Glass, Welcome to the Museum of a Life, and Vortex Over Wave. She loves the coast, peculiar things, and the scent of ice-cream freezers. 

Mick Jenkinson

Jenni Thorne

is a writer from the Black Country in the UK, and winner of the New2theScene poetry prize for 2025, and has had her work published in various poetry collections and on-line jornals including Starbeck Orion, Ink, Sweat and Tears, April Showers, Dark Poets, Broken Spine and the Sixty Odd Poets Heresy collection. 

Her work explores the weight of the ordinary, the need for belonging, and the way the lessons of the past and the pressures of modern life shape us.

She shares her writing on Bluesky @jenthorne.bsky.social.