Author: Porridge Magazine

TWO POEMS – Daniel Bennett

We toured the backstreets of the old town,
inside the bright cinema of midday sun.
In the plaza, edgy restaurateurs   

offered squid ink and pickled meat,
and the households of grand families
competed in a war of bougainvillea. 

ONE POEM – Stephen House

we keep walking
maybe fearful of touching
in front of others
unable to be completely who we are
two men with love
happily growing older
together

Foxglove – Kathryn Tann

You caught me, Foxglove, with your upright colour. You turned me from the river thinking I had been alone. I liked your pale and speckled belly, and the tiny fragile hairs guarding your mouth.

My Response – Lucy Zhang

In response to your suicide letter, I write that I now order a bowl of vegetable ramen from the local Izakaya whose waitlist fills up twenty minutes before its five pm opening.

ONE POEM – Keli Foster

I swam in the Gulf of Thailand with you.
I held you, small as a kumquat, in my own dark, small sea.

ONE POEM – Teodora Lalova

I often think of telling you
There is something wrong with time here.
I’m not sure whether I age faster or, quite the contrary –
Once we’re introduced again, I’ll be annoying in my youth.