Author: shirleybellwriting

Attracta Fahy, impspired magazine number 1, poetryLeave a comment

Attracta Fahy

shirleybellwriting

The first of Attracta’s fine poems are taken from her forthcoming publication, Dinner in the Field. Hy Brasil   Out of nowhere you appear in fog, every seven years vague outlines  tease faint horizon,  visible for one day, then you vanish back to myth.    I’m moored, enchanted, longing this fabled Island erased from nautical charts. Here on the mainland we are unforgiving, over indulge, ignore the beauty.   I’m anchored, in love, tied like a boat  to your image.   It’s said a wise old man lives in you,  holds gold, silver, jade. In stone castle, a magician moves objects by … Continue reading Attracta Fahy

impspired magazine number 1, poetryLeave a comment

Tracee Clapper

shirleybellwriting

Thoughts that come while lying on the ground I. From a pine scented,  needle-soft forest bed a bald eagle’s whistle draws  my eyes skyward, to paint-speckled clouds.  II. In rainwet soil, we bury seeds to sprout and plant bones for their last sleep. The difference between life and death is six inches or six feet.   Things that make me feel better A palm on my forehead stroking brow to crown, my hands cupped around a hot mug of honey-kissed tea, the suffused glow that is light and dark just after a storm before a rainbow; the ocean lapping  at … Continue reading Tracee Clapper

impspired magazine number 1, Kate Ennals, poetryLeave a comment

Kate Ennals

shirleybellwriting

Mother’s Day   After a scuffle, I emerge into morning. As I struggle to wake, I can see that it’s stormy. I draw back the curtain: Raindrops abseil down the glass Diminishing as they slither and pass A security light flashes. The Eucalyptus tree stands tall, Casts windswept shadows on my bedroom wall, A slide show, of sorts. I pull the duvet up to my neck, stretch my legs, Wallow in the cosy warmth of bed. I savor the silence and empty stillness Shortly to be diffused with the morning chorus. It is already beginning: Hot water pipes start to … Continue reading Kate Ennals

drawings and art work, impspired magazine number 1Leave a comment

Mark Blickley and Nancy A. Kiel

shirleybellwriting

Mark Blickley is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild and PEN American Center. His latest book is the text-based art collaboration with fine arts photographer Amy Bassin, Dream Streams. https://www.claresongbirdspub.com/shop/featured-authors/amy-bassin-mark-blickley/Nancy A. Kiel lives in Sydney, Australia where she’s an award-winning musician, songwriter, writer, and founding member of the New Zealand band Baby! and the Australian group Party Girls. Nancy is the founder and Managing Director of Miss Nancy’s Dried Berries. Continue reading Mark Blickley and Nancy A. Kiel

Fiction, impspired magazine number 1, Polly RichardsonLeave a comment

Polly Richardson – fiction

shirleybellwriting

Fredrick was RIP 1800    Creak the floors drenched in screams, groaning cracks. What secrets do you weep?  He hunched, eyeing threads. Perfection, despite squalor. His sanctuary, near two years since his death.  Wicks reluctantly flicked light, spluttered glow. He remembers this one’s squeals. Almost climaxed, as he recalled the ether wafting, tangoing its way up her flared nostrils. Nasal hair recoiled, defenceless. Her eyes screeched till bulge. Burst vessels branched out, spread like skin-forest. He strokes. Inhaled that image deeply so it rests on inner fibres for nights ingestion. Soft flesh, rippling, his vice-like grip. The old machine quivered protest … Continue reading Polly Richardson – fiction

drawings and art work, impspired magazine number 11 Comment

Edward Lee

shirleybellwriting

All the paintings are oil on canvas. Edward Lee is an artist and writer from Ireland. His paintings and photography have been exhibited widely, while his poetry, short stories, non-fiction have been published in magazines in Ireland, England and America, including The Stinging Fly, Skylight 47, Acumen and Smiths Knoll.  He is currently working on two photography collections: ‘Lying Down With The Dead’ and ‘There Is A Beauty In Broken Things’. He also makes musical noise under the names Ayahuasca Collective, Lewis Milne, Orson Carroll, Blinded Architect, Lego Figures Fighting, and Pale Blond Boy. His blog/website can be found at https://edwardmlee.wordpress.com Continue reading Edward Lee

drawings and art work, impspired magazine number 1Leave a comment

Dr Jennifer A McGowan

shirleybellwriting

We have here some hand-drawn initials, which reference back to the medieval Books of Hours and other documents. They are drawn with skill and humour. The artist states “These are initials adapted from the Macclesfield Alphabet Book, a fifteenth-century manuscript. They are modern ink on scraps of vellum”. Medieval examples: When not hiding in the fifteenth century, and sometimes even then, Jennifer A. McGowan has published poetry and prose in many magazines and anthologies on both sides of the Atlantic, including Pank and The Rialto.  Her latest collection, With Paper for Feet, a series of dramatic monologues and folk tales, is available from Arachne Press … Continue reading Dr Jennifer A McGowan