@apricotpress.bsky.social
Your words. Your passion. Your press.
Small, online press publishing poetry, flash fiction, short stories and essays.
@apricotpress.bsky.social‘When I have thoughts on giving up this gift,
this only gift the Lord conferred on me…’
Closing our theme of 🕊️ HOPE 🕊️, Shamik Banerjee’s poignant sonnet, ‘When I have thoughts on giving up this gift’, considers the hope that fuels creativity.
@apricotpress.bsky.social‘My church is full of ghosts. They displaced the few ancient ones from Before, who’d lingered here...’
JP Relph’s moving flash fiction piece, ‘The Ministering of Souls’, follows a priest seeking hope and meaning in a new world.
@apricotpress.bsky.social‘The morning undresses
light that orbits through Libra.
I drag down
like a boulder into water.’
Narya Rose Deckard’s beautiful poems, ‘The Return’ and ‘The Woman in the Hollow’, draw upon folklore and legends.
@apricotpress.bsky.social‘And in the leaving, what scares you?’
The life that rotted alongside mine. The lips I came close to but didn’t kiss.’
Úna Ní Nualláin’s poignant poems, ‘Some potential grief’ and ‘Burning the love letter’, search for hope in new beginnings.
@apricotpress.bsky.social‘Living fossil, unchanged
for 200 million years.
Survivor of cataclysm,
roots clutch bactrosaurus
bones.’
Bex Hainsworth’s beautiful poem, ‘Ginkgo Biloba’, takes inspiration from one of Earth’s oldest trees.
@apricotpress.bsky.social‘The bees lazily linger
on the hummingbird feeder,
as the apricot sunset
changes its hue.
The first flit of stars
appear right over the mountains.’
Rachel Turney’s poignant poem, ‘September Sunset’, reflects on a moment of metamorphosis.
@apricotpress.bsky.social‘The bees lazily linger
on the hummingbird feeder,
as the apricot sunset
changes its hue.’
Rachel Turney’s (rachelturney.bsky.social) poignant poem, ‘September Sunset’, reflects on a moment of metamorphosis.
@apricotpress.bsky.social‘We dance amongst
burnt marigolds,
and bite the
saline sun.
Frolicking with you
in this crisp season
wheezes like
coming undone.’
Ellie Sparks’ beautiful poem, ‘Coming Undone’, meditates on how relationships bring out new sides of ourselves.
@apricotpress.bsky.social‘Of all the kids in the class, he is the only one who never even glances up when Ada is ushered into the room by the head teacher.’
In Laura Theis’ (@lauratheis.bsky.social) moving short story, ‘Cocoa’, a blossoming friendship cultivates hope.
@apricotpress.bsky.social‘We walk and walk…Suddenly there among the trees are two ponies.’
Emily Tee’s (@emteepoetry.bsky.social) beautiful poems, ‘On Encountering Wild Ponies on Exmoor’ and ‘Fear of Flying’, consider the hope found in the natural world, and in taking a leap of faith.
@apricotpress.bsky.socialThe day we brought you into this world was the most emotionally confusing day of our lives.’
Harry James Forkan’s moving short story, ‘Flying Blind’, considers the fear and hope present in early parenthood.
@apricotpress.bsky.social‘I breathe oxygen into air
there is a forest inside me
When the sun bares down
in harsh tones
my treetops filter her light’
Sandra Beth Levy’s beautiful poem, ‘A Thousand Lungs’, explores the power of hope.
@apricotpress.bsky.social‘Clouds scattered, bird torn.
Early forages along barest shine.’
Filled with rich imagery, Helen Fulker’s poem, ‘Light above the Bay’, explores how we find hope in the natural landscape.
@apricotpress.bsky.social‘You leave at the tail end of a fading afternoon
in a town you ended up in by accident’
Helen Gillespie Brown’s beautiful poem, ‘Hope in Passing’, meditates on a moment of death.
@apricotpress.bsky.social‘Life has used me.
It sucked the sweet,
chewed down to the core.
It wants to spit
that last little bit—
throw out the pit.
Life is finished
with me.’
Erich von Hungen’s moving poem, ‘What Remains’, champions the persistence of hope.
@apricotpress.bsky.social‘I come to a stop in the staff car park,
another black morning, dragging
myself from my bed of bad dreams.’
Ann Marie Dunne’s beautiful poem, ‘Hanging in’, considers how we cultivate hope over time.
@apricotpress.bsky.social‘I forgot to sow my California poppies
seeds pushed to the back of a drawer
The oak leaves form a blanket
though fall has come and gone’
Mara Lovelock’s moving poem, ‘Beauty in the Waiting’, considers a hopeful action.
@apricotpress.bsky.social‘I forgot to sow my California poppies
seeds pushed to the back of a drawer
The oak leaves form a blanket
though fall has come and gone’
Mara Lovelock’s moving poem, ‘Beauty in the Waiting’, considers a hopeful action.
@apricotpress.bsky.social‘We learn our illness well
(sugar and spice and all things nice)’
Peter Devonald’s (@pdevonald.bsky.social) poignant poem, ‘Notes from a Rare Disease’, considers hope in the face of a prognosis.
@apricotpress.bsky.social‘I have lived in the same part of south London most of my life. To me, London is a set of interlocking villages and communities of interest...’
Emily Hay’s charming short story, ‘Artist in Residence’, charts the perseverance of an artist.
