Orbis185, Autumn

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Front cover artwork: ‘The Travellers‘ by Jane Indigo Moore

back cover, detail from image: www.janeindigoart.com

Fancy a taste of The Full English Brexit, offered up by Michael Henry?
Or fed up already, perhaps that’s why Frederick has gone to ground;
Anne Osbourn has a puzzle to solve, And if you’d also like to escape
the gloomy weather,along with Maxima Kahn, in this Gathering Fall,
lose yourself in Art, and enjoy Kevin Cahill’s description
of How They Met Themselves. Well, better than giving cause for concern:
Stratford A. Kirby’sSheep Worrier –
even more so with the Cow Trespassing, from Bill Dodd;
could end up thinking, may as well Make me a wilderness, like Matthew Smith…
or even a Red Brick Wall (John Bartlett). But one thing’s for sure,
reading Orbis helps build up inspiration.

Featured Poet

Fokkina McDonnell: Animate and inanimate objects relating to J Abraham;
Just another week; Partial view of a loch

Poems from: Chrissy Banks, An Agnostic’s Christmas; Kevin Cahill,
How They Met Themselves; Chris Raetschus, Limerence;
Frank Wood, Pericles, His Diary

Prose from: María Castro Dominguez, Blind Insight;
Phil Knight, Campanula Capratica;
Fokkina McDonnell,This is a portrait if I say so;
Vincent Smith, Love that will not let me go

Translation: Ranald Barnicot, From the Italian of Gabriele D’annunzio

Past Master: Jocelyne Thébault on Arthur Rimbaud

Article: ‘His Chosen Islands: Richard Murphy’ by Benjamin Keatinge

Reviews by Angelina d’Roza, Philip Dunkerley, David Harmer,
Clairr O’Connor, D. A. Prince, Andrew Taylor and Noel Williams

Orbis 185 Contributors also include

Nick Burbridge; David Burridge; Malcolm Carson; Eileen Casey; Ian Caws;
Doreen Duffy; Attracta Fahy; Carol Featherstone; Lorna Grinter;
Claire Louise Hunt; Simon Lewis; Ray Malone; Probal Mazumdar;
Dave Medd; Stuart Pickford; Marilyn Ricci; Sheila Spence;
Jill Townsend; Davide Trame; Frank Wood

Orbis184, Summer

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Front cover artwork: ‘Dragon with Hiroshige‘ by Jeff Gettis

back cover, detail from image: https://jeff-gettis.pixels.com/

What are we to make of this fabulous Summer? Yes, enjoy the Heatwave,
along with Julie Mellor; it’s a veritable River of Light (Ali Pardoe),
as Peter SuttonEcho o o o o (s). But let’s start by finding out about
Mark Paffard’sMountaineers of Leningrad, or trust Margarita Serafimova,
and venture to The Water’s Edge. However, if we find ourselves wondering about
Colin Pink‘s Beautiful Lies, it may lead to Lara Frankena
and The Plagiarist’s Lament, or perhaps all turn out to be Magic,
as Hiram Larew says. So why not stop to smell the (Pressed) Flowers,
from Marybeth Rua-Larsen, although sadly, they’re not to be found
in Denise Bennett’s account of Blossom Alley, or with Calamity’s Child,
as Daragh Bradish explains. And before it’s all what Tim Dwyer calls an
Imagined Memory, snap up a bargain, for example, In This Style, 10/6
(Georgina Titmus). And here’s another one to make the most of –
make this issue of Orbis top of your reading list.

Featured Poet
Ian McEwen: The riches of embarrassment; A spell of wind; Homily on practice

Poems from: Michael Atkinson, Kafka’s Garden; Holly Day, The Sacred Texts;
Briege Duffaud,  La Vie Simple à la Campagne;
Mary O’Donnell, A Report to the Home Galaxy on ‘Speck’;
John Zedolik, Concluding Comfort

Prose from: Peter Eagan, Mr Tortilla;
Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois, Turbine Syndrome and The Baroness;
Fiona Vigo Marshall, The Library of Dreams

Translation: Luba Ostashevsky, Two poems by Anna Akhmatova

Past Master: Hannah Stone on Andrew Marvell

Reviews by
Maria Isakova Bennett, Angelina d’Roza, David Harmer, Jenny Hockey,
D. A. Prince, Andrew Taylor, Lynne Taylor, David Troman and Noel Williams

Orbis 184 Contributors also include

Anne Banks, Jill Boucher, Peter French, Mary Melvin Geoghegan,
Ann Gibson, Alice Kinsella, Pete Langley, Gill McEvoy, Robert Ronnow,
Paul Saville, Pam Thompson, Carl Tomlinson, Ray Whitaker

Orbis 183, Spring

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Front cover artwork: ‘Dragonflies First Flight’ by Amanda Dagg
back cover, detail from image: www.dagg.co.uk

Who wouldn’t love to know More About the Marmoset? Fortunately,
Max Gutmann can explain. And why is Alex Josephy writing
On Not Going into the Garden? It’s a Gift,
says Sarah Lindon, like creating poems such as Julie Maclean’s Light Wave
and Particles of Icarus, and John Timothy Robinson: A Keepsake
in Handfuls of Memory Earth.Or even when you know things like
This is how it feels before the rain, as Ben Macnair tells us.
Meanwhile, Yvonne Adami can be discovered Walking the Merri,
whilst Katherine Swett is a Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog.
Mark Carson however reveals the grim details of being an Apprentice;
like John-Christopher Johnson, think Frankenstein. On that rather dark note,
let us reassure you there’s plenty here to make you Smile, thank you,
Lorna Sherry; you’re sure to enjoy this issue,
along with Grahaeme Barrasford Young – Because I say so.
And finally, or rather, with Tony Hendry,
simply And…

Featured Poet, Judith Shaw: Greek Juggernaut; genuine middle eastern sculpture;
it helps somehow; There are more fences now

Poems from Lucía Orellana-Damacela, Rain Noir:
Zebulon Huset, Of Chivalry and Chance;
Ed Jones, When Jesus Spoke to the Elephants;
Mary Makofske, Creation/Apocalypse;
Hannah Stone, ‘How unpleasant to meet Mr Eliot’;
Martin Zarrop, Sleepers

Prose from Jim Meirose, The Burning Bush;
Luba Ostashevsky, People are crazy;
Lorna Sherry, Smile

Past Master: Eamonn Lynskey on Eugene Lee Hamilton

Reviews by Maria Isakova Bennett, Philip Dunkerley, David Harmer,
Afric McGlinchey, D. A. Prince, Andrew Taylor, Lynne Taylor and Noel Williams

Orbis 183 Contributors also include

John Arnold; Anne Ballard ; Stephen Clarke; Jim Conwell;
Nigel Ford; Paul Francis; Pauline Hawkesworth; Richard Hughes;
Paula Jennings; Lindy Newns; John Perrault; Anne Rees;
Peter Viggers; F. J. Williams; Nicky Winder

Orbis182, Winter

£5 (Overseas: £10/€14/$16); Subs: £18/4 pa (Overseas: £38/€50/$60)

Front cover artwork: ‘Venice Costume Drama‘ by John Penney
back cover, detail from image: www.artistjohn.co.uk/

Have those long, dark nights had you observing, along with Jo Peters,
It’s not that I don’t believe in ghosts? Well, as we head into the light, finally,
we can echo Laura Ciraolo and Go lightly through life, especially if January
involved a bit of a Dry Patch (Mat Riches) – or were you as determined as
Jenny Johnson, declaring I Am Swift Purpose? Although, as Brian Daldorph
explains, there is an art in knowing  when it’s Time to go, while Oz Hardwick
will tell you the Rudiments of Practical Philosophy, something about which
the Ancients knew a thing or two. But rather than making Bronze Offerings
In The Water, along with Tim Miller, maybe we should pour A Libation,
thanks to Ginny Sullivan. And to everybody who enjoys poetry –
Orbis is filled with some excellent samples.

Featured Poet, Ben Bransfield: Surfaces; Penance;Cellar; The Weight; The Chord

Poems from
Andrew Button (Johnny Marr’s Fingers); Wendy Everett; (The silence of);
Jean O’Brien; (Paper-Chain-Dolls): Harry Owen (Unhinged at Chintsa);
Theresa Sowerby (A Charm of Gates);
Anne Tannam (The Poet Transformed Into Anger)

Prose from Alexa Recio de Fitch (Fabrication); Grahame Lloyd (Seeing the Light):
Sam Smith (Ideas not derived from experience but with observable outcomes)

Translation From the Early Irish: Terence Brick (Líadain)

Past Master: Becca Menon on Isolde Kurz

Reviews by
Angelina d’Roza, Philip Dunkerley, David Harmer, Clairr O’Connor,
D. A. Prince, Lynne Taylor, David Troman and Noel Williams

Orbis 182 Contributors also include

Sheila Aldous; Jean Atkin; Veronica Beedham; Martin Bennett;
C M Buckland; Ann Flynn; A. P. Fraser; Adrian Green; Jenny Hamlett;
Simon Leonard; Kathleen McPhilemy; Frances Nagle; Carsten Smith-Hall;
Laura Solomon; Jonathan Totman; Richard Williams; Jim C. Wilson

Orbis181, Autumn

£5 (Overseas: £10/€14/$16); Subs: £18/4 pa (Overseas: £38/€50/$60)

Front cover artwork: ‘Bridge Over Troubled Waters’ by Shanina Conway
https://shanina-conway.pixels.com/index.html?tab=images&page=3

The Long and the Short and the Tall? Well, long poems this time, certainly,
and a lot that rhyme  (which perhaps this should do in honour of the occasion),
except – Helen Harrison’sThe Rhythm of Wood. Plus a couple under 10 lines,
and maybe you’ll agree with  Gregory Arena, that We’re all Dr Who?
Yes, quite a few Tales of the Unexpected: ever come across
The Patagonian Su? Let Colin Sutherill explain. Or you could visit  Mt. Hiei
in the company of Pauline Flynn, perhaps pay a Cold Call, with Martin Malone.
Meanwhile, Lay by Gale Acuff is entirely open to interpretation,
and better pay heed to Marie Dolores’s suggestion: Beware the Meek.
What exactly does Cathy Whittaker have in mind, saying, I will buy a trunk?
No prizes however for guessing whom Grahame Lloyd’s
Trumpery Trumpety Trump is about. And forgive us
if we seem to be blowing our own trumpet, Because reading the magazine –
you’ll soon see why…

Featured Poet

Lyn Moir: Life Drawing; Playing Deck Shuffleboard with Somerset Maugham, 1948;
At the Movies, Ohio 1942

Poems from Matt Barnard, A Portrait of the Artist as a Sasquatch;
Judith Drazin, A Blue Time; Jonathan Edwards, Best Man;
Eve Jackson, The Dutch Circus Came To Town and They Missed It;
Grahame Lloyd,Trumpery Trumpety Trump

Prose from
Gregory Arena, Examination: the Italian English Certification Centre Cambung ©;
Christine Despardes, MassCity; Joanne Feltham, Perspectivo (Translation):Perspective

Past Master: David Troman on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Article: Carol Sausman: On Rhyme and Reason

Reviews by Maria Isakova Bennett, Ross Cogan, Angelina d’Roza,
David Harmer, Lindy Newns, Lynne Taylor, David Troman and Noel Williams

Orbis Contributors also include

Kevin Barrett; Jane Blanchard; A. C. Clarke; Michael Coy;
David Crann; Fiona Donaghey; Kieran Egan; Scott Elder;
Aidan Fadden; Leo Holloway; Patricia Leighton; Tim Love; Julie Lumsden;
Patricia McCaw; D. A. Prince; Tanya Prudente; Alexandra Sashe;
A. K. S. Shaw; Anne Symons; Philip Williams; Alessio Zanelli

bis180, Summer

£5 (Overseas: £10/€14/$16); Subs: £18/4 pa (Overseas: £38/€50/$60)

Front cover artwork: ‘Day Out by James Walsh ©
back cover, detail from image: www.sarahsamuels.co.uk

Here’s one for all those with a child genius, and a vague yearning to learn
(just try googling it…): be intrigued by Laura Seymour
and The fate of the peanut specialist. Not to mention Frances Sackett’s
description of the Moon in Flood –and why is Mum’s Laughing (Anne Stewart)?
And just how do you go about Outwitting Baba Yaga? Pat Farrington explains,
while John Andrew spins a yarn about his Line of Ancestry.
Join in with Elizabeth Barton’sSong of a Suburb, keeping a watch, though,
for Sue Davies and The Strawberry Thieves, as well as The Burner
(Tom Moody). Then relax with some Cocktails in the company
of James Conor Patterson, raising a glass to Neil Beardmore’sAmanuensis.
But heed the Teachings of the Shaman from Louis Nthenda,
and Sarah Barnsley’s instructions:
We have made a number of key appointments –
be sure to keep yours with this issue of Orbis…

Featured Poet Kevin Casey: A New Confectionery; Promises; Darning the Sky

Poems from:
Arthur Broomfield, Seeing Limerick Station through quantum physics;
Craig Kurtz, Huswife’s Velleity; Edward O’Dwyer, The End of Ice-Cream;
Fiona Pitt-Kethley, Figs and Amethysts; Gwen Sayers, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika

Prose from Charles Osborne, The Girl in the Sand;
Jennifer Ouellette, The Heroes;
Pavle Radonic, LOVES HIGH AND LOW Wives and Devotions

Translation: Brent Southgate, Poems from Martial

Past Master: Helen Ashley on Edward Thomas

Reviews by
Clairr O’Connor, Angelina d’Roza, Philip Dunkerley, David Harmer,
D. A. Prince, Andrew Taylor, David Troman and Noel Williams

Orbis 180 contributors also include

Mike Alderson; Aidan Baker; Linda Benninghoff;
Toby Campion; Andrew Curtis; Nathan Fidler; Angela Howarth;
Ian McLachlan; Antony Mair; Katherine Noone; Val Pargeter;
Karen Petersen; Laura Potts; Paul Protheroe; Natalie Scott;
K. V. Skene; David Troman; Chris Woods

Orbis179, Spring

£5 (Overseas: £10/€14/$16); Subs: £18/4 pa (Overseas: £38/€50/$60)

Front cover artwork: ‘Waverley Abbey’ by Melanie Zohrabi  
back cover, detail from image: www.artgallery.co.uk/artist/melanie_zohrabi_2

It’s easy to get confused: do you need to be a Mystic,
like Marilyn Donovan, to be able to understand what lies Beyond,
as Nick Conrad says, or even fathom out the Rubber Hand Trick
with the help of Sue Norton. Coming From Here with Nick Carding,
you can find out why the Half-Light at Scarborough is important to
Sue Spiers, before learning from Helen Harvey, who is Coming Home to Roost?
On a more serious note, Lavinia Kumar tells us about
A Slave Catching God’s Eye, and there’s a warning from
Jill Boucher: Droit du seigneur. But you can still enjoy Michael Swan’s Ballade
and relish Audrey Molloy explaining why Envy is a Daylily,
then let Antony Johae tell you all about an African Epiphany. So remember,
if Marlon Brando makes his Debut on a Shopping Channel (Peter Ebsworth),
you’re all welcome to make yours here in Orbis…

Featured Poet: Maggie Butt: Oare Creek; Beachcombing;November 1918

Poems from: Daragh Bradish, Extract from the Villa Journal. Cheeses;
Fiona Colligan-Yano, The Sea Rabbit; Barbara Cumbers, The Quaggy and the Kid;
Jane McLaughlin, Dita’s Scarf; Martin Reed,The Man Who Died in his Own Porch;
David Mark Williams. School of Little Birds

Prose from: Michael G. Casey, Letter to Meryl – The Sequel;
Charlotte Gringras, Jay Bee and crew; Sari Pauloma, Never Give All The Heart

Translation: Philip Dunkerley: Emilia Pardo Bazán, Almas Gemelas

Past Master: Pat Galvin on William Butler Yeats 2

Article: Lyn Cooper: Poet from 19 to 91 by Marti Cooper

Reviews by Maria Isakova Bennett, Clairr O’Connor,
Angelina d’Roza, David Harmer, D. A. Prince, Lynne Taylor,
David Troman andNoel Williams

Orbis 179 contributors also include:

Marti Cooper; Clive Donovan; Michael Farry; Doreen Hinchliffe; Charlie Jones;
Marie Lecrivain John McOwat; Lee Nash; Tanya Nightingale; Charles Osborne;
Felix Purat; Zara Raab; Lynne Taylor; Li C. Tien; John Whitehouse

Orbis178, Winter

£5 (Overseas: £10/€14/$16); Subs: £18/4 pa (Overseas: £36/€50/$60)

Front cover artwork: ‘Underneath the Grove of Sycamore” by Gavin Singleton
back cover, detail from image: https://www.artgallery.co.uk/artist/gavin_singleton

Not long now, surely…Saving the Light (Tom McFadden) tells us
Spring is on the way.and we’ll all be outside, tucking into Haagen Dazs
alongside Geroge Saito,somewhere, oh I don’t know, perhaps overlooking
a Harbour Scene, sharing the view with Jack Little.
We could be looking for Charlie Baylis and his Mermaids, or even
The Witch, Her Book in Martha Street’s tale.However, given the English weather,
more likely we’ll be thinking Sarah Sibley’s got it right: The wind is a curse,
if not quite as bad as what Vuyelwa Carlin says concerning
a Rat in the Frosty Garden. But let’s get serious and discover
what Dorothy Yamamoto knows about A brief history of footwear.
Or should that be Surreal? Courtesy of Michael Henry, Je suis un mouchoir –
because you can enjoy all sorts, even the unexpected, in Orbis.

Featured Poet

Pat Galvin: The Moon Fell Among the Trees; Unseen; It was a Different Life,

Poems from: Derek Coyle, Carlow Poem #59; Robin Daglish, Nowhen;
Helen Kay, Dyslexia and the Live Art Hit; Elizabeth McSkeane,
Arguing with Arithmetic; K. V. Twain, At Night I Covet the State of the Sculpture;
Martin Worster, The Night Guard

Prose from: Linda Griffin, Soldiers in the garden;
Mark Reece, A Meeting of Strangers; Sarah Samuels, The Parcel from Kabul

Translation: Fred Beake, Four poems from Theognis (Book 2)

Past Master: Philip Dunkerley on Cora Coralina

Reviews by
Ross Cogan, Clairr O’Connor, David Harmer, Afric McGlinchey,
D. A. Prince, Lynne Taylor, David Troman andNoel Williams

Orbis 177 contributors also include:

Mark Behan; Denise Bennett; Gail Dendy; Richard George;
Ann Gibson; Alan Hester; Dorrie Johnson; Fred Johnston; Robert Kennedy;
Mary Lee; Michael McCarthy; Dave Medd; Nancy Anne Miller;
Simon Perchik; Jenna Plewes; Joan Sheridan Smith; Ginny Sullivan;
Peter Sutton Merryn Williams; Martin Worster

Orbis177, Autumn