MIR Editor

  • ‘A DEFINING MESSAGE OF EDUCATION AND ACCEPTANCE’ : A CONVERSATION WITH DALE BOOTON ON HIS DEBUT POETRY PAMPHLET, WALKING CONTAGIONS, by Matt Bates

    I wanted to write in a way that was bold, brash and blunt. I didn’t want to overuse metaphor but to say what I really thought on the matter. If my pamphlet expresses an element of the ‘defining message of education and acceptance’, then I have succeeded in what I wanted to do.

  • THE DEAD GOOD FOOTBALLER, by Tarina Marsac

    I love playing football. In a different life, I would have been a professional football player. In that life, I would have been good enough to be a professional football player. I would have played for Arsenal and England.

  • THE MONSTER OF INVIDIA, by ML Hufkie

    The hospital looked deserted, though he knew it wasn’t. It was just that floor. Silent, and dank, like a sepulchre.

  • TRAPPINGS, by Fiona McCulloch

    Is it no terrible that wir auld neebour’s deed, an he wisna aw that auld tae? Aye, terrible son. The pair sowel.

  • THE ROSES AND THE WEEDS, by Elinora Westfall

    She wishes that she had kept a written record of all the epic bloody nonsense that has come out of his mouth over the years because she could have gained some kind of minor social media fame and parleyed a book deal out of it to boot: Shit My Stupid Shag Buddy Says.

  • ROOSTER, by Nikzad Nourpanah

    After the meeting, I told Ramin, ‘You spoke well. You showed them who’s boss!’ ‘Why were you so quiet?’ he said, ‘you should’ve taught them a lesson, too!’ After this pointless exchange, we returned to our office.

  • BOBBY, by Alison Theresa Gibson

    Do you remember the day we met? You were driving a truck with CWA imprinted on the side. Country Women’s Association.

  • THE RHYTHM, by Anu Pohani

    It’s English class. You sit behind me. I start the note. Something simple. Not witty, how about – ‘good weekend?’ Your precise handwriting comes back, ‘pretty good. Soccer game.’

  • PJ HARVEY READS ORLAM AT CONWAY HALL, Reviewed by Amy Ridler

    Orlam is an exploration of Dorset myth, woven into the changing of the seasons. There are two worlds in Orlam – The first is the real world (farm), the second world is made of dreams and visions (the woods).

  • GRASS, by Emma Purshouse

    He’s trying to blank me, but when it becomes clear I’m not going anywhere, he answers, easing his hood up to cover his brass neck and baseball cap as he does so.