
Prose is making its presence felt at Ink Sweat and Tears, this month. We’ve the edgy and visceral from Graham Clifford that weirdly brings nature into a tough classroom in ‘Revivifying Bees in the PRU*(*Pupil Referral Unit)’, two quirky works of micro-fiction – ‘Marking Your Territory/Waiting at the Coffee and Suds’ – by Louella Lester that lay those brief encounters bare and an ornate, wonderfully clever, anthropomorphic short story from Phoebe Thomson with ‘Friendly’.
But, as always, we’ve equally brilliant works of poetry on the shortlist. Stephen Lightbown‘s direct and fluid ‘Everyone Welcome’ opens a door for readers who might not have seen the world from his perspective before. ‘Imagining Green’ by David Gilbert bedazzles, scouring the natural, extra-terrestrial and bodily world while Jenny Pagdin‘s ‘Before the market town with the Pepper Pot building’ gets under the skin of belonging yet not belonging as a second-generation immigrant.
All six of the shortlist have been chosen by Helen, Kate and Chloe or received the most attention on social media.
Read them all here https://inksweatandtears.co.uk/september-2022-pick-of-month/
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