By Alex Padina Under the pressing wind I wondered about polysemic words, and how they guide the train of thought. Seemingly unrelated vocables sharing the same whispered air, the same shape in their invisible sound waves, despite their different roots. I saw a gigantic mass of clouds: A shadowy, sinister flock of billows, slowly taking over the blue sky. And despite the threat of heavy rains, I felt light. My mind suddenly shifted to a future memory— one of doctors and pa

By Margaret Bethray They are lifting away the winter, layer by layer, to reach a face that sleeps in ether. Your pupils dilate, better to absorb the radiant nurses who revolve and press enamelled tablets to your lips. You feed indulgently, grub-like, marvelling while the world’s sugary lights unravel their thrill and shimmer their silks. Turning over in drugged sleep, you hear thin wings rustle a rumour: once you filled the shape of a man . But the cell walls split and you

By Estelle Phillips My son returned late. We silenced at the sight of him wrought with devastation from a fight not quite to the death. I rushed to hug him, lured him into his old room where he flung his rucksack across the bed and perched, smouldering with contempt. His mask for loneliness. His breathing slowed and turned to fire. He burnt words exposing our secret shames, brought us to his place of breaking. My son was like a dragon come to claim our souls. Prepar