Issue 14 Editorial

'Catching the Wind' by Janet Brooke

A note on reading: If you are reading this issue on a phone you may find that switching to desktop view restores the intended structure and line breaks of the broader poems.

Stephen Boyce, The Road to Duffus

Antonia Kearton, Sanico

Eve Chancellor, Pandora’s Jar

R S Kendle, Selkie

Rachel Curzon, Letter to my thirty-year-old-self

Sophie Dumont, Yarrow

Devika Mathur, The setting of Autumn reminds me of a few things

Laurence Morris, Wildflowers in Cantabria’

Ryan O’Neill, LDR

Sarah Frideswide, Erosion

Anna Fernandes, Past Nest

Thea Smiley, Flint

Ian Irwin, beside my sister, beside the sea

Mark Wyatt, Orpheus and Eurydice

Louise Longson, Considering Names of Things While Sitting on a Bench in the Low

Field with my Father

Jane Zwart, The Time Machine

Victoria Sherratt, Sound Supermarket

Rachel Carney, Collecting Eyes

Sam Szanto, Dear

Lisa Sammoh, Vignettes in Spring

Özge Lena, Imitation of the Eye

Ágnes Cserháti, Ghost Hands

Scott Elder, Roulette

Anne Eyries, No Fishing on Sundays

Marie Isabel Matthews-Schlinzig, Smile

Rob McClure, Stolen Earrings

Laura Theis, Do You Really Think I Look Like An Old Crone?

Bridget Khursheed, I was going to tell you…

It is always curious how, when working on an unthemed issue of Dust Poetry, common

threads and patterns nevertheless often begin to emerge as we read through submissions. This issue was no exception and as it started to take shape, we found ourselves immersed in ideas of mythology and memory. The shifting dynamics of family relationships – particularly those involving fathers – also spoke to us time and again; we hope that you enjoy the touching and honest poems gathered here that embrace this theme.

Above all, it is clear that Issue 14 explores the sea in all its forms: calm and treacherous,

giving and taking, the ocean is surveyed from its sparkling ‘silver surface’ (Özge Lena) down to its ‘depths unseen by sun’ (Thea Smiley). From the stark image of drowned fishermen ‘laid out like seals’ (Stephen Boyce) to the joyful comedy of cartoon seagulls ‘wearing jumpers / yellow, green and blue’ (Marie Isabel Matthews-Schlinzig), the poems in this issue invite you to dive in and remember both ‘warmth and water’ (Sam Szanto) and ‘the bend of space / over grey-green’ (Ian Irwin). On the shore, you will find an ‘empty shell’ buried in the sand, (Sarah Frideswide), eager hands digging to uncover a flint shaped like a dragon’s head, and the wonder of eyes that ‘glisten wetly’ in the early morning light (Rachel Carney).

It seemed fitting that this coastal theme should be reflected in our cover art, so we are delighted to feature Janet Brooke's 'Catching the Wind' for this issue. Janet is a printmaker based in Brighton. She prints all her small edition screenprints and linocut prints by hand in her studio. Her subject matter is the urban environment in its many forms, with recent pieces such as this one, inspired by walks along Brighton's undercliff path.

Janet's work can be found on her website www.janetbrooke.com and Instagram @janetbrookeprints. Also in London at Bankside Gallery and in Brighton at Atelier Beside the Sea and if you would like to buy a print of 'Catching the Wind' you can do so here.

We hope you enjoy reading this issue.

Catherine and Tara

Co-Editors