FHP15

GPH15

GPH15 

Seated on this bench
in each other’s 
pronounced absence
Ahead, grass in spring—
path-neutral green
We could’ve mapped a thousand 
and one 
ways together
Instead, we edge 
towards two—
blind, diverging
leaving all doors—locked—behind

by C. Oulens

GPH 15 Bench

Watching

Shaded under boughs of elm
sat upon a bench
solitude, my friend, welcomed,
slowly watching the world slip by.
Children playing in the park
chasing balls and each other,
chirping birds, sun bathing on branches,
cherishing the solemnity.
Mothers and fathers push pushchairs
making light conversation
mulling over the day’s deeds
making each other laugh.
As I just sit and watch them all
and smile in happy repose.

Dave Ashley

SOME RISE GENTLY

Soft round tips push though.
Some pierce the soil like stained spears.
All show their softness in unfurling.

Sue Finch

GPH15, FHP15




Hextet



Now he sat there on

the beach when, as he

was staring to sea,

he caught her dancing

on the far shoreline,

wrapping around her

snakes dipped in colours

that glowed in the dark.


She waved snakes up high,

spun with them around,

chanting, …snake, for you,

please give me your crown,

then smiling at him,

she offered up one;

the hextet lover

never turned her down.





©️ Elizabeth Cusack

for Wombwell Rainbow

12 April, 2026

MO 15
Ski over me my LORD

I flatten myself I am particulate 
water crystals I compress 
as you pass over —
                             I am a track

You are parallel lines
I felt the fuchsia red
Ski pass over me and 
I am not melting 
I am hardening

Dave Garbutt

15

We would sit within
a silence that together,
was built to last.

Lin Hart

Jane Sharp

genocide, not famine
 
Protect your hair with non stop damage spray.
Systems Consolidation is system 
responsible for this. "Have your say,"
she says. The most savage wisdom
 
and definitive blow. Be good, open 
wonder. You rebuke the empty red bench
whose person is locked down by their crown, penned
holding their hands up in all obeisance.
 
Our programming is based on our source code.
Looking for a trackway. We find it. It's 
delicate. A massive old motherlode
facility. It comes away in bits.
 
They are moving what our words even mean.
A very small window making you feel seen.

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.

MO14

FPH 14

Go Away

If beauty is supposedly skin deep,
then your skin must be pretty thin
at least you have a personality
… of sorts, but where to begin.

You think, I’m sure you really do
that shouting is the way to win friends true,
but lets not detract from your charm
that even Buddhists wish you harm.

I’d run away but you follow like sheep
recounting your stories that send others to sleep.
Please bugger off, just go and desist
Isn’t there a planet you might have missed.

Dave Ashley

FHP14 

Unfinished 

I shouldn’t have been born.
Cobbled together from spares,
unfinished,
waiting to be completed. 

A head filled with flames,
a body loosening at the seams,
folded by blind fingers
that never learned the shape of joy. 

Colours bleed beyond the lines,
lineage offers nothing back,
only diminishing hope
thinning breath
on a cold window.

Jenni Thorne

SHE DANCES ON THE FRAGMENTS


She thinks first of walking across hot coals
mind over matter
a mantra in her head to carry her onwards.

Wonders what difference
the sharp physical distraction would make.
Imagines the heat being everything.

One straight fast journey.

Instead she dances on the fragments.

Sue Finch

Jane Sharp

14

Hedging our future
against peace, best found apart
than with each other. 

Lin Hart

 
let's talk norse mythology now
 
new jobs, on our tod. We must be damn fools.
Closure is bad for business. How you 
treat this video will affect your full
destiny. Click and follow for new you.
 
The box hedge in the holiday park, kept 
neatly trimmed, its bottom cleaned out
periodically of lobbed and left
energy cans, fruitshoot straws, lager louts.
 
Employees are disposable when firms
need to make more money. Calls for wage
rises are blamed for economic downturn,
while rich who caused it get more leverage.
 
Let's go to the moon while world melts away.
Protect your hair with non stop damage spray.

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.

MO13

FHP13

GPH 13 – holiday chalet

Hungry Changing Room

There was a bump, a bang
an awful gut wrenching twang,
then a burp and a chomp.
The door opened with a flomp!

It spat the surfer out of reach
with bits of dead chap lining the beach.

Another burp and a kite and some twine,
a bit of some child that tasted divine

Be careful when choosing beach changing rooms
always find ones that have been approved.

And not monstrous ones with big appetites
for surfers or kids flying their kites.

Dave Ashley

FHP13


A Proposal


Under clear moonlight
we were dancing, and
he was whispering,

Let the sea hold you…
Look into my eyes… 
I will not lose you…
I’m taking you home.



Elizabeth Cusack
for Wombwell Rainbow
10 April, 2026

ONLY THE REMNANTS (MO13)

She remembers the stained glass,
a flash of a white bird above,
daffodils open and singing in the grass.

She remembers the feeling.
She calls it Spring,
smiles as she works to piece it all together.

Her lungs expand at the thought of hope;
the drummers from the marching band
are still inside her.

Sue Finch

GPH 13
Holiday Chalet

Holiday here!
Palladian folly by
him who burns—The Blue

Doors—your surprised 
eyes looking within. Review 
us—every like helps. 

Next to reservoir! View of 
cricket ground. No cars, no pets.

Dave Garbutt

FHP13 

Splitting

I wear a face the world can read,
polished smooth, rehearsed to please,
a lantern held against the dark
to hide the tremor of the spark.

Behind it, something quieter lives,
the part no mirror ever gives,
a pulse of truth beneath the skin,
a voice I swallow to fit in.

The public self knows how to shine,
to nod, to smile, to toe the line;
while deeper still, the self I keep
waits in rooms where shadows sleep.

Some days they drift a breath apart,
two tides that strain the same worn heart;
some days they split like fractured glass,
a fault line I alone must pass.

I walk with both, and cannot choose
which one is truth, which one I use.

Jenni Thorne

C Oulens

Jane Sharp

13

Blue doors and blue days,
giving way to our dreams of 
clover afternoons. 

Lin Hart

GPH13

Oh, the blues always followed
Even on some holiday
Waiting in shadows
inside a chalet
Even as they were out thinking
the grass is greenly
the sun is so silky 
& the moon 
the moon may burn misty
on a wonderful 
for a wonderful holiday

by C. Oulens

Black Lines 
(GPH13, MO13) 

Black lines, 
The boundaries 
That define 
The edges 
Of reality 
On paper. 

Anything that 
Strays from 
The predetermined 
Shape or 
Crosses the confinds 
Of those black lines 

That tries to 
Redefine order 
Will be restrained 
Contained 
Behind the bars 
Of bolder, blacker lines 

And no one questions 
The quelling 
Of insurrection 
When they’re conditioned 
As children 
To paint 
Inside the lines. 

Luke Meyers

involved in the video game war
 
The final climbers made it through the murk.
There is no threat says defence advisor.
A locked up holiday chalet does not lurk,
its blue shines, is a child playing actor
 
hobbling with his nannan"s stick saying I'm
 getting there. Women are to blame for us 
men having nowt, he says  They've us int bind.
Can't do owt. May as well top our sens. Us.
 
His nannan rescues her stick bar comment.
A new handbag never really fills void.
She's scapegoating the other. A time meant
for monsters. Other folk I must avoid.
 
Competing for a husband, home, kids schools,
new jobs, on our tod. We must be damn fools.
 
Paul Brookes

Artworker And Author Bios

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.

FHP12

GPH12 POEM

FHP12





in the northern light

the horned one

in the cavern

plays violin

to love


Elizabeth Cusack
10 April, 2026

MO12

True Belief

Parse all the information, garnered, deft,
inscrutable in the depth of knowledge
leaving foolishness dying and bereft.
Parse all the information, garnered, deft,
intransigent to any external theft,
a justified and true belief you can pledge.
Parse all the information, garnered, deft,
inscrutable in the depth of knowledge

Dave Ashley

Jane Sharp

GPH12 

Oh Poem, is that you still waiting?
I thought you must have read 
the writing on the wall
I thought you must have seen
the ruins 
behind closed doors

These locks are treacherous— 
promise of keys 
But I’ve left the walls
to stroll on grass
C. Oulens

The Art of Seeing. 
(GPH12 MO12) 

Missing words, 
Missing spaces, 
Fusing letters 
And conflating 
Sentences 
The search  
for meaning 
Doesn’t end 
With reading, 
The art of seeing 
Is in figuring out 
What to make 
Of what you saw. 

Luke Meyers

12

Just wanted to be 
happy, just wanted wishes
to one day come true.

Lin Hart

A HERON HOLDS ITS GAZE

So still
on the edge 
of the water

a statue holding everything
you need to know 
about patience.

Sue Finch


GPH 12
Poem


This profit never wrote upon a wall
but, three wishes is both too few and too many
for a happy life. Oh, Zodiac,
sail on, stay close inshore—
may you always float,
       may you rise with the tide

Dave Garbutt

i don't understand
 
descent and enough to reach the next hour.
I rant and rave but my three wishes are 
all used up. See my antlers. They tower
as limbs from my carved head ready to spar.
 
he/she says. Know normal left the building 
a long time ago. Look at the way wood 
grain swerves on the body of a standing
carved stag layered in the painting, stood
 
in front of a tattoed human figure,
neither seem to recognise the other,
both are othernesses. Perhaps layer
creatures don't recognise one another.
 
Here's some pick up lines I heard while at work.
The final climbers made it through the murk.
 
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

Singer, Songwriter, Poet and Freelance Arts Facilitator

New poetry collection for 2025 Iron Harvest available from:  https://www.waterstones.com/book/iron-harvest/mick-jenkinson//978936354396628

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.

<!– /wp:paragra

MO11

FHP11

Jane Sharp

FHP 11

Wisdom

No ancient wisdom fills me whole
folly prevaricates through my form
and I make certain statements droll
to hide my lack of intellectual norms.
No ancient wisdom rattles in this head
in its dry, dusty, and cobwebbed halls
the vacuous empty platitudes said
are well practised and often recalled.
No ancient wisdom imprinted within
I’m a foolish, loud empty vessel
someone whose affectation wears thin
a misanthropic bestial devil.
Please, don’t look deep or you’ll find
that there is nothing great in this mind

Dave Ashley

OH FUCHSIA
a poem found at https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/fuchsia/hardy/growing-guide


Choosing reliable types 
will attract 
a tender one

looks come in shades 
of red, pink 
and violet-purples

go for full-on doubles 
to add extra interest 

there are a few 
you can select

you’ll find them

just take them home 
and keep a cool nighttime 
for bedding.

Sue Finch

11

We rode the dragons
of our best intentioned hope,
and then, let it go.

Lin Hart

GPH11, MO11, FHP11

 

It’s hard to imagine that nothing at all

Could be so exciting, could be this much fun

— The Talking Heads, 1979

 

Nothing Happens

 

riotous borders

heavy artillery

coastlines exploding

summer has ended

 

you are tired living

on flattened ground

under blue-capped skies

where nothing happens

 

as the sea sinks in

you are trapped behind

battered clays will rise

you see the grave signs

 

the thrill and the awe

bombs bursting in air

terror everywhere

further over there

 

marshlands subside

as far as the eye

the seagulls will find

dead fens of bodies

 

when will love return

when will it come round

it came here but once

then died on the ground

 

music uncanny

the warning signs red

but you had to ride

see what it was like

 

to have another

tossed into the ground

the loud shout command

then punish with smiles

 

this lasts a lifetime

a hole in the ground

the years of regrets

for trying to leave

 

when I feel nothing

it is so much fun

I understand that

the show must go on

 

and soon I will die

in a gondola

you’ll find another

and the wheel go round

 

do not lean just now

do not slide to ground

hold your arm upward

you won’t tumble down

 

it will hurt awhile

you will hear singing

as the world retreats

there are unknowns

 

you will not feel pain

do not worry love

the priest does not sting

nor drag you to die

 

it is so much fun

it’s all in your head

to prove that you can

expecting it all

 

just close your eyes now

and let it happen

you won’t feel the fall

it’s nothing at all

 

heaven is a place

where nothing happens.

 

 

©️ Elizabeth Cusack

9 April, 2026

Our Skin Tags
 
for a full house, even a line to cope.
Cleanse our nation from impurities, he
says. We don't need democracy to hope
I can give you all. You only need me.
 
Ride my green dragon on a kid's roller 
coaster. Nothing too steep. Believe my words.
You are a bird on a pedestal. Spur
yourself.Build your wealth today with my words.
 
Armed. They're loading like we're not coming back. 
Connecting dots in real time. Something big.
Eyes down. This is an adult roller. Stacked
steep and high. We're on the edge. Dig deep. Dig.
 
Pray track doesn't buckle with the speed
of our 
descent and enough to reach the next hour.

Paul Brookes

Artworker Statements And Author Bios

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.

MO8

FHP8

Jane Sharp

MO8 – April

April ascents

March comes to a likely end
showering showers, spit spats
ratatat on roofs in rapid beats.
Cold water to wash away the
sun’s warmth.

Daffodils and crocuses call
for April to come, warming
the rain. Freshening the lawns
to a vibrant green and bringing
daisies to life again.

March waves goodbye, a tear
trickled over the cherry blossom.
When April saunters splendidly.
Smiles beautifully and bows.

Dave Ashley


SKATING (MO8)

They are gliding across the pond.
Centred. Swirling.
Arms outstretched against the air
and smiling.

She wonders if the ice is thin.
Are they in love?
Are they drunk?

She cannot take her eyes off them.

Sue Finch

MO8

Night Shift

Smoke spirals from the smouldering tip,
Silvered by the night’s sharp frost.

Silence settles in the still air.
Streets sink into slow darkness.
Snow settles soft on the street.

Standing there, I am master of this world.

Samadhi on smoko.
Serenity.

GPH08

My Buoy

Grief pulled at me
like a slow, certain tide,
taking what it could.
You saw it:
the drift,
my voice worn thin
by water.

You didn’t call me back.
You threw the buoy,
steady and sure,
a red arc through grey.
I held on.

For a moment
I stopped going under.
The shore
was still there.

Jen Thorne

The Missing Life Ring  
(GPH08, MO8) 

A streak of red 
At the end of a line 
Cast out to sea 
At some time 
Or another 
For tragedy? 
Or prank maybe 
Whichever, 
Now my destiny  
Is sealed 
And they leave me 
In the sea.

Luke Meyers

FHP8, GPH08

Life, Goodbye

We met under sunlit lavender skies,

A vivid rainbow appeared in your eyes;

Contours of oranges nestled my thighs.


You let go your hand, you needed more land;

You floated away without any plan,

The red tide warning of the quickening sand.


Farewell, my belovéd, and life, goodbye.


©️ Elizabeth Cusack

For Wombwell Rainbow

6 April, 2026

8

I preserve moments
like this one, where we, parting
wish each a good life.

Lin Hart



Donna Faulkner

unpopular opinion
 
I will make ir painful everyday.
"There is no lifebelt" he said to a beach
that was empty. Not provider's way
just a performer, dependent, a leach.
 
They don't have a plan to finish it. He
definitely got cracked in the cuck chair.
No saving lives here. My hair won't be
cooperative so I have a fair
 
breakdown instead. Deep conspiracy here.
How many points do schoolchildren 
doing atrocities get? How many for fear,
girl rape, murder? clickbait war is trending.
 
I'm making a hit piece on you. This part
is critical. Rich folk must finance smart.

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.

GPH7 Dairy Icecream

MO7

FHP7

WHEN YOU SAIL AMONGST SHARKS

 

Your senses sharpen.

You find yourself looking for shadows,

darkening every grey.

 

You fear the red and everything

it gives away about you.

 

You find yourself checking for leaks,

forgetting to notice the view,

cold even though the sun is shining.

Sue Finch

Jane Sharp

Ice-Cream Pain
(GPH07,MO7)

There is no joy,
without a promise of pain
Ice-cream grows fangs
Then attacks the brain
And friendships all end
In sorrow
When someone leaves
Even if they don’t mean to.
There is no joy
without the promise of pain
Even ice-cream grows fangs
To attack the brain
And sugar rots the life
from man
For sweetness has a price,
But its price
Is worth the cost
For what you gain.

Luke Meyers

7

A joy you wonder

if you’ll ever taste again

good ice cream, and love

Lin Hart

GPH07  

…and the only thing that’d

make you laugh

once

infectiously

shuts down

as if in a pandemic…

C Oulens

 

 

Fhp – 7

Magic seeds –

I’ve got vegetables growing out of my head,

‘cause I ate some magic glowing seeds

Please understand I did it, I wasn’t force fed.

I’ve got vegetables growing out of my head,

Could be broccoli or another crop instead.

I wont go hungry, just harvest and feed.

I’ve got vegetables growing out of my head,

‘cause I ate some magic glowing seeds

 

Dave Ashley

 

 

 

GPH07, FHP7
Born But to Die

i)

I am stunned, confused, overwhelmed by grief;
I woke up today to find time, the thief,
Lies here in my bed, propped up by unease,
My body aching, now seventy-three.

What then, exactly, has happened to me?
I once was a child, dreaming of the sea;
Everything is lost, naught, eventually:
The sun fails to shine, and in due course, I.

My parents once loved, but now they are gone,
The boardwalk I ran fell into the ground,
My smiling grandma, a distant memory,
My self respect now my summer, it seems.

All has tumbled down, the cement now cracks
Over my eyes as I prepare to die.


ii)

The cucaracha split into two parts;
Fell out of the egg a boy just the same;
The baby boy had two spiralling horns
That pierced the sky wherever he would roam.

Pink as the petals, thin, slim, and now tall,
But he's born to die, the same as them all;
He catches the doves falling out the sky,
And he never stops once to ask them why.

The doves fall on him, and screaming they cry,
Why do you kill me? I fly not to die!
You are a land fowl, soon destined to die
By the butcher’s knife, but ever we fly

With love in our eyes, no matter whether
You’re born but to die and never know why.

©️Elizabeth Cusack
for Wombwell Rainbow
5 April, 2026

look see this coming

 

Those who had skin in the game, open wounds.

Whipped and scooped screams with hundreds

and thousands and freedom we bring will loom.

“You’ve complicated energy.” she said.

 

“I see a lot of different things spike

happenings in your life, push, pull tension.”

Can entropy be reversed? Let be light.

Can we recreate ourselves? Another version.

 

The enchantment of multicoloured crown

foliage, hundreds and thousands sprinkled.

Autumnal icecream forests fresh confound

the tongues that retreat into wrinkles.

 

Literally can’t sleep when you say

I will make painful everyday.

 

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.

FHP6

AND WE DANCED

I can feel now the flow of our steps
as our feet patterned the floor.

My soul still sings
for the music that lifted us,
had us young again, 
the whole night ahead
and us in one another’s arms.

Sue Finch (MO6)

FHP6, MO6

The White Swan and Phaon

As a child she would wander into the sea,
choose what was offered from the ferry beneath, seaweed and clam, octopus and fish, suckling her knees and spreading between, tickling and sighing in the soft Aegean sea; she knew quite well, she  travelled constantly, from Mytilene to Athens, her family royalty, her mother a priestess, her father a warrior from Lesbian aristocracy.

And she talked to the trees, listened from the eaves,
played her lyre, and plucked constantly; everywhere she turned there were white birds who lit on her hands, and when she would sing, they were whispering:

Oh Sappho, this song is your Destiny, oh Sappho, you will sing forever in Pierian Spring, oh Sappho, these roses are yours, you see, Sappho, we added a string; take this hewn plectra and press it to the eighth with your soft hand; your deep low voice will sing for the goddess you hear nightly; walk out to the sea, watch the waves rise and fall around your knees; the Swan we know is waiting; be like Helene for him, your daughter will be Kleis, blonde and free, your special love will be a daughter; gather your flowers carefully, and when you are ready, the Swan will welcome you down by the river where it empties into the sea; he will wait over the hill to teach you to sing.

So Sappho wandered one day, when she was fourteen,
and the Swan appeared erect with two white wings,
and carried her off into the green; and she sang for the doves, and she sang to the trees, and she plucked her strings on the streets of Mytilene, and soon there were three, Sappho, her daughter, and Aphrodite, who never failed to leave Sappho’s heart in misery, for she lived foolishly, one marauder after another, till she retired comfortably.

But Phaon appeared one day, magically, the prettiest young man she had ever seen; her heart was lost for the very first time, as she had never seen such beauty nor cruelty, a seducer of words, a minstrel of low company, but there poor Sappho was stricken to her knees; not war nor exile could separate her from his memory, and thus poor Sappho, now a priestess of love, fell into the sea; though her pedigree forbade her from seeing him again, she fled to Sicily, then on to the Mediterranean Sea where her brother took her in eventually.

Her scrolls of songs burned in Alexandria, and the popes picked them off, and the academy agreed, but more were found in the twenty-first modern century, and more of Sappho’s tormented tears reach my ears,
as she comes to live in my heart awash with misery.

Oh Sappho, you suffered, but Kleis is free; find your way and go out to the sea, find the wooden boat near the Styx; he will be waiting, dear Phaon, who ever never loved thee; rescue your love from the briny deep, his colorful boat pasted with words, his heart the Swan only understands, and he will set your heart free, though he may never again touch a mortal poetess as beloved as thee.

©️Elizabeth Cusack
For Wombwell Rainbow
5 April, 2026

Dave Ashley

Bubbles 
(GPH 06, MO6) 

What happened to the good times, 
The bubbles in a garden 
That blurred the lines 
Between reality 
And fantasy, 
The magic that made life seem to be 
Enchanted. 
When did the world 
Take a turn for the tragic 
Those bubbles burst, 
But no wishes were granted 
It just left soot and ash 
As a blanket 
Smothering the memories 
Of what I'm sure used to be 
Happiness 
How long did it take to forget 
Those past times that used to bring me joy.

Luke Meyers

Jane Sharp

Gph 06 pastimes

Poetry Pastimes

Pastimes of past times baked in rhyme
where poetry forged upon a reeling page
is perfect as its regaled from centre stage.

Ink emblazoned with a sardonic shine
scintillating wit which is all the rage.
Pastimes of past times baked in rhyme
where poetry forged upon a reeling page.

Up before the audience who radiate sublime
delivering poetry in hopes to assuage
bad temperaments which the word rearrange.
Pastimes of past times baked in rhyme
where poetry forged upon a reeling page
is perfect as its regaled from centre stage.

Dave Ashley

so memo gone around
 
A bigger vase so she can flourish again.
Pastimes are awaiting reopening
Folk like me who have no skin in the game.
Signs from decades gone, keep calm and shopping.
 
What games do kids play in a live warzone?
My eyes are dim, I cannot see. My specs
blasted smashed in front of me. Drones, drones, drone
bombs drop drop like nan's doodlebug wrecks.
 
It's been flipped on its head. she says It's 
harming everybody else. Pastimes 
are becoming present times and fits
even future times. Re-opening prime
 
war memories in old folk, veterans .
Those who had skin in the game, open wounds.

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.

MO5

This Fortunate Ride (GPH05, FHP5)


A moment’s pleasure only made me sad,

filled with regret and melancholia,

devastation, a summer so lonely

it was a showboat that never arrived.



Why did I buy it for the price I paid, 

lurching pain, aching possibility,

every part of me lost but for its cause,

spinning atop a moment that craters.



A child might believe, her eyes open wide;

mine are reliquary, deaths now proceeding;

I will no longer keep up a pretense,

live for the moment, excitement, suspense.



Love is a facade in this seaport town,

a fronted, busted, bemused accident,

a pestilent, tragic farce that is spent,

and the broken hearts put on a defence.



Though I am quite dead, I will only smile, 

shed no tears and stare, look out for awhile;

how lovely it is; if I would but blink,

I could move on now, as you always think.



There comes another every-day, but

I get up each morning wasted away;

wheels come around, and then they do decide,

the passenger leaves her appointed time.



The amused man lies and even pretends;

the summer has died, and the fall begins, 

winter is so kind, bottled up inside,

no answer on high, just suffer and die.



Seaside amusement, helter-skelter pride,

formation spiralled, then storm-cloud reside,

plinth and bust portrait, a mask and disguise,

spin me around on this fortunate ride.





Elizabeth Cusack

4 April, 2026

Lin Hart

GPH 05 

Storage


I am the box of the world
I contain all, and hope.

Who could open me?
Not you, small human,

you think of big wheels
and spiral slides

watching blue sky 
and turning

but you must wait, in July
she with the key will return

and you can think 
inside the box again.

Little human, it's what you like!

Dave Garbutt

Jane Sharp (FHP5)

My Father’s Box 
(GPH05 MO5) 

He had a box; 
A shed in fact,  
That sat somewhere 
Halfway between  
This place, and that. 
 
And people came, 
Cause people thought 
The treasure that 
They couldn’t find 
When he was caught 
 
Was hidden there 
Inside his box, 
Inside his shed, 
they’d wander up 
And break the lock 
 
To rifle through 
his bits of junk: 
Old newspapers, 
And bits of wood, 
A broken trunk. 
 
They always thought 
They’d got it then, 
As if that trunk 
Had not been seen 
Yet before them 
 
And then they’d leave 
And never find 
The treasure, just 
A figment of 
Their greedy minds, 
 
There was no Gold, 
Had never been 
The treasure that 
My father left 
Behind was Me. 

Luke Meyers

GPH 5 Storage

Pandora

Look inside, look deep inside, just there
within the locked room, you’ve opened
and in the essence of the dank gloom
there is that box where words are spoken.
Deep inside, yes deep inside, open the lid
gaze down into its darkened depths,
as the noise becomes a cacophony
now exposed the secret that was kept.
All the evils clawing up the walls
to escape their arcane prison home
but there is no hope left, it was consumed
leaving just dust, gore and bone.
The Pandora’s box opened, curses fled
humanity’s end, humanity dead.

Dave Ashley

FHP 5

even on a pedestal
her roots 
remember—

C Oulens


we all know someone
 
Access the money of your view's full take.
See her bloom from a vase far too small for 
her whilst the tree outside spreads roots and great
crown into earth and sky. If you explore
 
and manage to read this backwards it means
who is the most hated no upfront costs 
this and this and this four scary facts scream
about eliminator lives lost
 
a loophole on winter's beachhead, due 
to restrictions on this platform this product 
means you age backwards. Workmen hack new
roots that the outside tree has grown. Deduct,
 
relandscape whilst inside she is placed in
a bigger vase so she can flourish again.
 

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.

FHP4

GPH4

Lin Hart (GPH4)

The Smile Factory 
(GPH04 MO4) 
 
They painted fun on all the windows 
And hung toys around the door  
Then they advertised a service 
“Children watched whilst you ignore!” 
Yes their prices were extortion 
And the coffee cold and weak 
But there was no better option 
For a tired mum to seek 
A rest from all the shouting 
And the chaos of the home 
So they’d send their offspring packing 
Through the doors into the foam- 
Filled paradise  
Of the Smile Factory. 

And they’d sit around a table 
Drink a dozen pots of tea 
Not a thought to what might happen  
Through those doors marked No Entry! 
Yes, they all could hear the screaming 
And the shouting, and the cries 
‘Cause the children were all playing, 
So of course there would be noise 
Then an hour or two later 
When the little ones would race 
back from out behind the curtains 
Grins spread wide across their face 
No one questioned what the tears 
Meant that trickled down their cheeks 
And instead they bought them all  
Right back there every other week 
to the joys 
Of the Smile  Factory. 

And on it went, for many years, 
‘Till one day, suddenly 
The newest Mum decided that 
She simply had to see 
What went on behind the curtain 
Why her children weren’t so wild 
When they came home every forghtnight 
And became so meek and mild, 
So she peeked passed the no entry 
And was  greeted by a scene 
That her children saw bi-weekly 
And she screamed! 
All the others soon came running 
The police turned up to raid 
But a thousand lawyers failed to claim 
The money that they’d paid 
And they’d paid 
And they’d paid 
To the Smile Factory. 

Luke Meyers

FHP4

The blue sky, red clouds,

merge into purple

as the ash falls down,

the mountains flowing,

and the seas scattering,

as I look eastward;

 

Fine violet hues are

hugging the coastline,

and the southern sky

emerges yellow

in soft golden hues,

bubbling sunset greens;

 

My eyes wide open,

I am remembering,

floating and waving,

mirages freezing

fallen molten ash

burning the shoreline.

Elizabeth Cusack

3 April, 2026

 

Jane Sharp (FHP4)

Dave Garbutt

GPH04 

The heart has downed its shutters
No eyes on this street
Not sure darling, 
I’ll find
a smile worthwhile 
to bring you home

C.Oulens



FHP 4
Muse 

She floats about the ephemeral clouds
free of all restraints,
where worldly worries cannot reach
or hold dominion.
She is the light who radiates hope
showering scintillating love,
smiling with all her heart beating true
and live for all.
She rails the breeze to blow away
cobwebs of indecision,
bringing inspiration as clear as day
a Muse in every single way. 

Dave Ashley

CROCUS

You rise purple from the green
against dilapidated creosoted fence panels.

She started my love for you;
back when I thought it was an effort 
to bury you in the ground,
when waiting a year seemed so long.

You rise in spring. And I rejoice.

Sue Finch (MO4)

Book Keepers
 
to wake up your friend to see this rough sky
where the smile factory wears a steel frown 
of shutters and its bin clear mouthed and dry
and not overflowing. Not in this town.
 
We're still investigating our own crime
The atrocity. We have destroyed them.
Now transitioning densities in time.
Middle East is drawn by two maproom men.
 
I'd rather be dragged behind a car. An 
animal never reverts back to its 
former state exactly. Adaptation
eye training is close observation, fit
 
demands approval before you can take,
access the money of your view's full take.

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.