Orbis 211, Spring 2025

New: Annual Orbis Poetry Prize
sponsored by The Word Masala Foundation (Yogesh Patel)

The first prize of £200 will be awarded

to the best poem published in the magazine during 2025

Two runners-up will receive £25 each.

(This is in addition to the Orbis Readers’ Award of £50
plus £50 between the runners-up)

Please continue to vote for your favourite poem in every issue
keeping a record of the choices each time.

Then in December, vote for the best one for the year;

Results will be announced in #2015, Spring 2026.

Orbis 211, Spring 2025

Front cover artwork: ‘Plein Air’ by Jerry LoFaro:
www.jerrylofarodesigns.com/

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Orbis 200:  What a beautiful looking edition ! Must get this. 
Congratulations on the magazine’s longevity and high standards

  (Anna Saunders, Director at Cheltenham Poetry Festival)

Orbis 200: ‘All the best to you, and to Orbis!’
(Glyn Maxwell; shortlisted for Best Collection in the Forward Prize)

‘Best wishes for the journal –
and congratulations on such a successful magazine over the years’
(Joy Harjo, United States Poet Laureate)

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Single issue: £6.00 (Overseas: £12/€14/$16);
Subs: £20/4 pa (Overseas: £45/€55/$60)

Associate Editor (Book Reviews): Maria Isakova-Bennett

Reviews by:
Philip Dunkerley, David Harmer, Jenny Hockey,
D.A.Prince, Theresa Sowerby, Pam Thompson

Please note with new collections, press release in first instance
to the Book Reviews Editor – not review copies.

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At long last, a wee bit of sunshine – but don’t get too carried away.
After all, as Simon Maddrell points out, we’re all alone, thinking,
maybe even wondering what happened to Pat Marum and The Disappeared?
But if you’re ready for A Sound Decision with Jim C. Wilson, Abrahm Beezley
will put it to The Test, allowing for Compressed Time (Diana Pinto),
or for S. C. Flynn to come to the Rescue. Can you maybe solve
Angela Martinot’s quandary: What is that elephant doing in my dream? 
while Steven Taylor will tell you about another strange Encounter,
like Blaithin Allain and The Sea Bride, or Fran Bourassa, on The Land.
And what’s the difference between John Gilham’s Flâneur
and Rob McClure’s Flâneuse?
Orbis has the answers….

Featured Writer

Julie Burke

The cry of the horseman
Goldilocks: a reflection on a life of crime
A bookish sort of woman
Embraced
Hidden in plain sight

Poets include Blaithin Allain (The Sea Bride); S. C. Flynn (Children of the ice);
Michael Foley (The old man and the wind); Natalie Fry (The Land Turtle);
Rob McClure (The Relativity of Simultaneity); Angela Martinot
(What is that elephant doing in my dream?); Diana Pinto (Compressed Time)

Prose from Gary Duehr (Who’s Afraid Of Bob?);
Ayelet McKenzie (The member of the singing group);
Harry Waight (Man is born on fire)

Translation:
Ma Yongbo and Helen Pletts: 山中醉酒 (Getting Drunk in the Mountains)

Past Master: Pat Farrington on Anne Bradstreet  

Orbis 211 Contributors also include
Aidan Baker; Arthur Broomfield; David Callin; Fíona Donaghey;
Pablo Dubois; Michael Foley; Eve Jackson; Alex Josephy; Ben Keatinge;
Janet Laugharne; Linda King; Robert Leach; Jane McLaughlin;
S Kimbrough McLendon; Sara McNeil; Michael Milburn; Sari Pauloma;
Jean Prior; Purbasha Roy; David Thompson; Natalie Wolf