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← Issue 3 Contents

Amanda Walsh

Chris Loader

Claire Dyer

Eleni Lea Santana

Kate Noakes

Katie Eglington

Peter Robinson

Richard Ettinger

Steven Matthews

Susan Utting





Air Is Not 

Out Of Solidarity

my mother’s turning off the news
from correspondents in Ukraine.
She’s aware ‘it’s war again’ –
born in nineteen twenty-six,
was evacuated through the Blitz …

My mother reads, donates, mum prays,
but now she’s turning off the news.
‘It’s too sad,’ is what mum says.

Of course, she’s seen it all before,
seen how each large and small war
‘contains upsetting scenes from the start.’

Mum’s lived through excruciating times.
‘How can you,’ as my mother says,
‘make war without committing crimes?’

No, not to spite air’s long-range heart
my mother’s turning off the news
but because, as a mum should know,
however great the grief you show
true news has no more pity than fake …

She knows the difference truth can make.
After all, mum’s ninety-five,
still has her wits, is still alive,
my mother turning off the news.

Peter Robinson is Professor of English and American Literature at the University of Reading. A new collection of his poetry, Retrieved Attachments, was published in February 2023.