top of page

Issue 5, Portrait: Contents And Editor's Note


(Cover illustration by Jeanann Moloney)




Welcome to Dust's fifth issue, Portrait, which contains 41 poems on the theme of portrait.


Thank you to everyone who submitted poetry for this issue. Once again I have been overwhelmed by the volume and quality of submissions and the ongoing support, encouragement, and vitality of the poetry community, particularly online, which has often felt like a bright and hopeful space in this incredibly bleak year. It remains a huge privilege to read your work and to be part of this community.


I am so proud of the poems in this issue and so honoured that the poets chose Dust to feature their stunning work, I hope you enjoy them.



Tara Wheeler

Founding Editor




Ghost Light by Miranda Lynn Barnes


The New Students by Carl Boon


Madder Red Dreams by Rupinder Kaur


Portrait Of My Grandmothers As Sideboards by Ann Cuthbert


The Woman In The Pink Hat Is Not A Local by Emma Lee


Masks by Sayan Aich


Mothering by Sophia Argyris


Rice Field by Aiden Heung


How I Write About Enslavement by Jenny Mitchell

The Thing With Broken People by Mathew Lyons


Self Portrait 2 by Lotte Mitchell Reford


Hospital Selfies by Poppy Cockburn


Microchimerism by Katie Oliver


Self-Portrait With Windsor Chair by Julian Brasington


How We Found Ourselves Unchained At The Shore by Osahon Oka 

Trace by Stephanie L. Harper


Self-portrait In A Misty Mirror by Kim M. Russell

He Waits With The Argos Catalogue by Gareth Culshaw


River Return Us by Peach Delphine

Picture Perfect by Ermelinda Makkimane


Saint Susi by Nicole Estelle


A Caterpillar Chewing a Weed Leaf Wonders if He’ll Ever Become a Butterfly by Elaine Wang

To The Stars by Shirley Jones Luke


My Sexual Orientation Is by Nymphish


Self-Portrait with Attachment Theory by Kristen Kalicharan


Reluctantly by Arianna Sebo

Blemished by Amy Moretsele


Draw Myself by Nora Blascsok


The Crooked Old Man by Alan Kissing


Something To Relish by Thomas Abalahin


Jupiter by Kayleigh Campbell

Time / Lapse by Alvin Kathembe


Pinacoteca di Brera by Julie Hogg

Still Life by Simon Alderwick


A Haiku by Scott Hadley


His Whole World by Rob McKinnon


Anatomy Of A Ghost by Sarah Doyle


My Father And I by Reshma Ruia 


Poem for Sophie by Rachel Carney


Pearl by Nicholas McGaughey


Self-Portrait in Small-Town Summer by Jessica Kim 



Cover Illustration by Jeanann Moloney


Our beautifully vivid chair on the cover of the issue is by artist and illustrator, Jeanann Moloney. Jeanann is a self-taught artist from Cork Ireland, who likes to work in acrylic, watercolour and gouache. She takes inspiration from femme fatales in film and bold uses of colour. She has been featured in Bloomers Magazine and won a Vogue Magazine illustration competition. Her Instagram is jeanann.moloney




bottom of page