By: Mukund Gnanadesikan It’s OK, officer. You seem like a nice young man. I’d like to think that I was once like you. Back away from me. Go back down those stairs, please. For your own sanity. You ask me…

By: Susana McArthur Memories of that last year at the University came flooding back as he sat on the hard bed. Closing his eyes, his mind re-lived that fateful last year and he admitted to himself that those had been…

By: Mythili Nagarajan I dived deep Into the past To collect The scattered self. Where Self remained Still With Wild guts. The collective remains Sheathed The me With Haunting shield. Lost in Own wilderness Me in me Crawled And Creeped…

By: Anupama Mishra The days are unpleasant, perilous and grave for the old. Having been deserted and left he is avoided like an abandoned house with its broken doors and sagging porch. Poor old, considered as an oxidised lock, is…

By: Dave Gregory Two tanned, barefoot, young men in wet swimsuits sit on white sand in the shade of a long, lofty row of Casuarina trees. Elongated green leaves, resembling brushstrokes in a French Impressionist painting, sway in a warm…

By: Andrew Broadous Laundry Day In this psych ward, the nurse unlocks the door with a keycard, one electric pop, and as the heavy metal halts shut, I turn, peer through a small glass window. I see the world escaping,…

By: Leslie McGriff For Derek Walcott I imagine they wrapped your body in white sheets around and around arms still at your sides the fabric delicate and lightweight leaving you open to the atmosphere your head they cased in an…

By: John Zurn Patience Patience is often seen as a burden When “now” is the proof of achievement. Faster is better and newer means more, And first is the measure of greatness. Impatient to raise my own self-esteem, I trust…

By: Antonia Schuster His nonchalant Kik message springs on to my screen at 3.20: How about 3.30 near Platform 28 bar? I make hasty excuses to my staff, sending them flighty Skype messages just got to duck out for half…

By Jane Collins-Philippe She goes to the fridge to let my brother in at the door and puts the butter in the oven along with her hat and the napkins normally meant for the table. When she forgets where she’s…