Tag Archives: poem

Poems Published in Cable Street Press: Issue 9

Four of my poems have been published in the marvellous Summer Edition of Cable Street Press, Issue 9.

A word from the editor on Issue 9:

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly, Sage Flowers, Marigolds.

Bastille Day has come and with it, the explosion of writing and art that is the latest Cable Street Issue. I’ll be frank with you—every issue blows my mind. I see all the pieces one by one and they are surprising, delightful, shocking, thought provoking. But then they all come together, and each and every time, I’m moved by the web of art in conversation that is created...And these are only some of the many treasures of this issue. Storm into this tower at your own speed, making sure to check out the poetry of F.C. Malby and Roberta Schultz…There is plenty to enjoy on this Bastille Day weekend.

— Hardy Griffin for the editors

Poems by F C Malby

My poems, Crossing, I Have Already Gone, Moths, and Where Have All the Birds Gone feature a range of themes, including the contentious issue of immigration. Through Crossing, I wanted to give a voice to the voiceless; this is a particularly exigent issue.

Crossing

I line up with other bedraggled bodies,
some look as though they might be dying,

others carry the weight of grief. I watched
a child slip away while we waited yesterday,

saw the life leave its lungs, the mother clung
to its body, tears wet the child’s face. It’s not

pretty, it’s worse than they tell you. I don’t
know whether we will make it or whether

we might be taken back. I don’t speak
the language, few of us do. It matters.

The look on the guard’s faces is difficult
to read, tells me they’ve seen so much

of this. None of us know what to do or
what’s next. Clothes dry on a makeshift

line between tents, next to plastic bags
of what we have left after the police take

anything else. Some of us camp under
bridges, avoiding the boulders that stop

us settling on softer ground. We wait for
the next boat, for a better life. The

mother is still holding the child. We
wait. Some of us won’t make it.

Read my other three poems here.

Poetry Publication

My poem, She Laughs with the Breeze, has been published today at Fifty Word Stories:

She laughs with the breeze
as it sweeps through the town,
men — liquor-fueled and free
with their words — lean on the
bar as the music plays…

You can read the rest of the poem over at Fifty Words. Leave a comment and let me know if this inspires you.

Poetry Publication: A Chink in the Window

POETRY – “A CHINK IN THE WINDOW” BY FC MALBY 22/7/2022

A Chink in the Window

Light flickers through a chink in the window. Moths dance
outside in the low evening light, try to find their way inside,
the way children scramble to reach the popcorn. You think
about how people try to find ways out of things and ways in,
and about the constantly changing landscape of life.

Some scramble for the light, leaving at dawn, while others
remain. You wonder who controls the opening and closing
of windows, the turning of the leaves, the inner turmoil that
drives some to make the decisions that they do. You try to
fix them but some things are not fixable, not your

responsibility. Three moths have found their way in
through the chink and are dancing around the table
lamp. You wonder how many more will arrive and how
many will stay. Remaining through troubled times,
staying in the building, that’s the hard part. Some leave

when it gets too hot, others leave because they are
uncomfortable in their own skin. You wait for the moths
to leave near dawn, after they have settled in the warmth,
then close the window and watch the sun appear, feel
its warmth against flesh. And you know that if you travel
lightly, allowing the sand to sift through your fingertips

the right ones will remain in first the morning light.

FC Malby is a contributor to Unthology 8 and Hearing Voices: The Litro Anthology of New Fiction. Her work is forthcoming in the Reflex Press Anthology, Vol. 5. Her poetry has been published in Spillwords Press, Sledgehammer Lit and Unpublishable Zine. Her social media handle is @fcmalby.

I Want to Wear a Dress with Lemons All Over It by F.C. Malby – Sledgehammer Lit Mag

“Ready for war but not yet called up, fuelled on coffee and vodka with a lick of cynicism and delayed hope.”

My poem, I Want to Wear a Dress with Lemons All Over It, has been published in Sledgehammer Lit Mag. It was inspired by a photograph of a dress that Jill Biden wore, along with an ensuing conversation on Twitter about said dress. As a writer, I questioned why it had caused such a stir, especially because I’m not keen on the media focus on what women wear, so I played with the idea that it was the boldness of the colour and the print…

“the brazen cheer of it, the rebelliousness with which is stands out against the grey and drudge of news bulletins.”

And there began my poem….

“Somewhere there must be a place for a dress with lemons all over it, if not here, then there.“

I want to wear a dress with lemons all over it,

a bright yellow citrus burst of colour like the

pansies in the garden. The brazen cheer of it,

the rebelliousness with which it stands out

against the grey and drudge of news bulletins

and long faces, people in their houses, locked

away with slippers, computers fixed to bodies

like combat clothing. Ready for war but not yet

called up, fuelled on coffee and vodka with a lick

of cynicism and delayed hope. The blackbird sings,

establishes itself as the Beethoven among birds,

competes with the Woodlark, Thrush, Skylark and

Robin. Song that pierces the dawn, punctuating

thoughts of another day, another unsent email

dishes rising in dank sinks, laundry spills

out of baskets waiting to be slipped against

flesh or folded and stacked, but the only things

folding in these times are dreams and jobs. Doors

close as we wait for a window to chink open.

Somewhere there must be a place for a dress

with lemons all over it, if not here, then there.