GPH27 Inside The Arcade

MO27

FHP27

GPH27 

In the Noise, You Anchor Me 

The lights strobe trying  
to outshout my heartbeat,  
all neon teeth and clatter,  
a carousel of colour too fast  
for the me that wants quiet. 

Everything is too much
tinny music looping,  
the plush toys staring 
with stitched-on joy,  
coins skittering over metal  
like they’re trying to escape too. 

And still  
we feed the machine  
our tiny copper offerings.
Tuppences sliding 
into the bright, hungry mouth.
Because that’s what you do,
you play along  
even when your chest feels tight. 

But then your hand finds mine,  
warm, certain,  
a small gravity in the carnival glare,  
and suddenly the world stops tilting. 

I laugh.
Not because the moment is light,  
but because you make it bearable,  
because in the crush 
of noise and colour  
you steady me  
without asking for anything in return. 

And for a breath,  
the arcade softens,  
and I remember  
I’m not trying to escape the world, 
just trying to stay in it  
with you.

Jen Thorne

Start them Young 
(GPH27) 

Come in, and taste a new addiction. 
Each machine will let you win 
Just once, to start your new affliction 
Dopamine will draw you in! 

Luke Meyers

Jane Sharp

WHEN THE PATHS ARE STRAIGHT AND FLAT (MO27)

Our hips and knees do not announce themselves.
And we can walk for miles.

When the water is calm and warm
we are buoyed and bouncy.

Give us enough of these simple days 
to talk and laugh in.

Let us hold all the memories 
of floating and freedom
so lightness can be our balance.

Sue Finch

MO 27

The raging sea

Shadowed by night in deepest indigo blues
sea rages against the rocks, spitting salt spray
cursing the land in spite, ruing the day.

Hatred boiling, battering waves beat a tattoo
syncopated roiling roll, a noise ridden malaise.
Shadowed by night in deepest indigo blues
sea rages against the rocks, spitting salt spray

Against cliffs, the auspices of a lord of misrule
tiding the tide into torrents of terrible play
the siege of the land as the water holds sway.
Shadowed by night in deepest indigo blues
sea rages against the rocks, spitting salt spray
cursing the land in spite, ruing the day.

Dave Ashley

FHP27




What Love Was Like



Like a marionette

she had fallen

for a martinet

who never arrived;

she tried to imagine

what love was like.



©️ Elizabeth Cusack

for The Wombwell Rainbow

24 April, 2026

i take me back to simpler times
 
into the market when life's big change sucked.
Not on our watch. Literally never 
happened. Fake news. Inside the arcade. Lucked
out Carousel one arm bandit clever.
 
Their permission to live and exist tied 
to performing urge to rewatch the film.
Use the change machine to get more tied
into the default the house always wins.
 
Guardrails have been removed. Prepare. Survive
nuclear winter of misinformation.
What spin will win? Whose world shares fall and rise?
He said  Trust their pattern recognition.
 
I knew we could never be together.
There are two ground invasions to suffer.

Paul Brookes

Artworker Bios And Artistic Statements

Molly Ovenden (MO)

Artist Statement:

In this April 2026 collection, “New Light, Returning Daily,” I wanted to explore using familiar materials with unfamiliar methods. I combined off-cuts from my “scrapings” paintings, pages from a rescued Bible that had been damaged, and a variety of mixed media materials to make something new with collage in a cohesive collection. When I consider how day-to-day life can feel mundane, the same day-after-day, or simply a repeat of dull life that offers next to no progress, I easily miss the beauty in small, secret, quiet moments. As this series of 30 pieces unfolds, I created it to capture the variety, emotions, beauty, and depth of everyday life on the daily; viewing each piece (or, each day this month) separately may reveal one thing for a viewer, but to experience each piece together may offer a new perspective, a new light, on our everyday mundane upon returning daily.

Bio:

Molly Ovenden is a contemplative poet and painter based in Leeds, England. She writes poems for people on the spot with her vintage typewriter and moments of emotion through expressive abstract paintings. For Molly, inspiration comes from running and wandering through nature, seeking God in everyday small moments, and holding spaces for people to be present with emotions. Molly believes that everyone is made to create: whether they paint or write poetry, or build literal bridges as a civil engineer or relational bridges as a great neighbour, it all takes creativity. The concept “Beauty is an arrow of Hope that points to Peace” drives Molly to capture, create, and share beauty with others–especially through poems and paintings.

Contact for Availability and Purchasing:

To view full collection, visit: https://mollyovenden.com/art/

To contact for availability and Purchasing – UK only shipping – visit: https://mollyovenden.com/contact/Facebook | Instagram – @mollyovendencreativity For Blog About Artwork, visit: 

https://mollyovenden.substack.com/

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.