“We can’t take it all,” her brother had said, tossing memories in a bin bag like kittens for drowning.
Tag: family
Mick Jagger Used to Call Me Mum – Jacqueline Ellis
When I was little, the dark staircase between the front and back rooms of my grandparents’ two-up, two-down terrace house had been a mountain. Each step a jagged, granite foothold; the shadowed landing a dark cloud hiding a kingdom of giants, or a castle encased in twisted branches. Their bedroom glowed yellow; the edges of…
ART: Natalie Bradford
Through countless retrievals, our memories of precious moments lose their ‘truth.’
ONE POEM – Iona May
When did writing
become such a warm meeting place?
ONE POEM – Sarah Degner Riveros
Mama hugs
her son. Can we get
horchata? No. Not today.
It’s Tuesday. Treinta tacos?
De asada? Para llevar.
The wait’s worth it.
ONE POEM – Elizabeth Wilson Davies
The unconsidered diaries of family life fall open at once favourite recipes,
bittersweet imprints on the page of stained, smeared, sticky memories.
COMFORT FOODS // While You’re Still Here – Yasmine Jessy Amr
You scribble on a piece of paper, pausing every two minutes to remember. Your memory isn’t what it used to be. But you try anyway.
TWO POEMS – Natalie Crick
I want to feel
the warm milk of your smile.
I want to see your reflection
in the moon’s mirror, polished like spring bones.
ONE POEM – Clifford Brooks
Vacant of leaves
and shell-wrapped gifts,
dad and I can see the sky.
TWO POEMS – Sara Nesbitt Gibbons
Their heads out, curved eyes on us,
reciprocating the salty, convex cabin.
Look, there, beautiful wooden bowling balls, said my mum.
Five Baked Beans – Katy Thornton
Image: Photo by Cristian Newman on Unsplash Katy Thornton has just graduated with a First Class Honours in her MA in Creative Writing in December, and is currently working on short fiction, as well as a longer piece of work about the Magdalene Laundries in the 1980s. Her hobbies include mostly reading and writing, as well…
ART – Gavin Shepherdson
This artwork by Gavin is also featured in Issue Two of Porridge, available for purchase here. Gavin Shepherdson is a designer and artist from Lanchester, Durham. He studied Animation at Northumbria University and has exhibited short films at Ani’mest and Vilnius Festival among others. This will be his first publication for his artwork. His interests include…
Porridge 