Orbis 217, Autumn 2026

Orbis Quarterly International Literary Journal

is for everybody: inspirational, educational and entertaining.

96 pages of news, including Xtra Kudos Competition Listings,

reviews, letters, prose - and quite a lot of poetry

Front cover artwork: ‘The Magic Of Books’ by Richard Hopkinson

back cover, detail from image: https://richard-hopkinson.pixels.com/

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. And not to me...

****

All the leaves are brown and the sky is grey… well, no, sky is still blue, sometimes, and leave are also red, yellow and bronze.

Colourful In the Natural World, Simon Shaw says – while Bogusia Wardein calls it bliss;

you could even be as fortunate as Sara Stegen to spot a Pheasant Fashion Parade. However, maybe surprised

by Isabel Greenslade and a Goat’s-Eye View of the Desert Horizon, and delighted, following Gareth Culshaw Through A Kissing Gate.

And after all that, there’s the mystery of the box, which Patricia Leighton explains – or does she?

Likewise, Richard Williams: why the Unposted reply to a letter of complaint? But you will find out about Jon B. Miller’s 20 Year Class Reunion,

along with John Zedolik and Feng Shui For Finality. So, if like Davide Trame, you need a Clue,

enjoy finding the answers in this issue.

Featured Writer

Bogusia Wardein

Next Door Neighbour;

The GP’s Office As Torture Chamber;

Brainstrong; Carp Scale; bliss

Poems from

Ewan Downie, Goat; Tess Joyce, Sedna Turns The Tide; Anita Nahal, Single Aging 1; Bibhu Padhi, Somewhere, A Mirror; Jenny Vuglar, Hester’s Wings

Prose from

Fiona Vigo Marshall, Three Visitors; Theresa Sowerby, Clearing the Air; Harry Waight, When the Wars Came

Translation

Marc Tritsmans: Stille nacht

Translated from the Dutch by John Irons

Past Master

D.A.Prince on Anna Bunston de Bary

Orbis 217 Contributors also include

Charlie Baylis; Irene Campbell; Ann Gibson; Charlotte Gringras;

juli Jana; Jenny Johnson; Tess Joyce; Gloria Keeley;

John Lanyon; Ian McDonough; Caroline Maldonado;

Harry Owen; Jean Prior; Neil Rathmell; Susanne Rowell;

John Short; Steven Ray Smith; Phil Vernon; Jenny Vuglar

Orbis 216, Summer 2026

Orbis Quarterly International Literary Journal

is for everybody: inspirational, educational and entertaining.

96 pages of news, including Xtra Kudos Competition Listings,

reviews, letters, prose - and quite a lot of poetry

Cover Artwork: ‘K022 Surfer’

***

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):

‘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)

****

Single issue: £6.00 (Overseas: £12/€14/$16); Subs: £20/4 pa (Overseas: £47/€55/$75)

Associate Editor (Book Reviews): Maria Isakova-Bennett

Reviews by:

Philip Dunkerley, David Harmer,

Jenny Hockey, D.A.Prince, Pauline Rowe,

Theresa Sowerby, Pam Thompson

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

****

Summertime, and oh goodness, the living is not easy in all this heat.

You’ll certainly be glad of Richard W. Halperin’s Open Window, and to visit David Banks: Sonnet 04.09.23 (Iceland) –

but if you long to be Unwrapped, Eve Jackson is the one to ask. Indeed, if Disorder can be avoided, Caroline Price may know,

assuming you, along with Kingshuk Sarkar have The Touch. So is Simon Fletcher the only one Chalked-off? No Argument

from Margot Audrey Block although you may wish to express yourself more forcibly or remember things like

Sinking deep into another rainy dawn (Lorena Caputo). Why not focus on This little problem of punctuation,

which Rose Mary Boehm will explain, unlike Anthony Costello, who’s wondering Where Brownlee Went,

and if you prefer flights of fancy, join Faye Boland: My Nana Flies Airplanes. Besides, as Cynthia Linville says,

We Are All Just Stories In The End. Perhaps best simply to take Time Out, like Pete Mullineaux, and enjoy some Tranquillity

with Anne Stewart, because reading this issue of Orbis may at least help to take the heat off.

Featured Writer: Shaun Barr, The Light Thief; Birthday Balloon; Island; Spark

Poems from

Rose Mary Boehm, This little problem of punctuation; Federico Federici, Ulysses In Neukölln;

Richard W. Halperin, Summer Gloves 2; Cynthia Linville, Gentle Magic;

Pete Mullineaux, Sloth; Caroline Price, Marché agricole, Louhans

Prose from

Jeff Phelps, The Island; Helen Pizzey,Taking Care Of Business; Mark Reece, The refugee crisis

Translation

Tom Phillips: Kristin Dimitrova, Degrees of realism

Past Master: Daniel Boland on William Henry Davies

Article: Eco Poetry: ‘on the shoulders of giants’

by Pat Farrington

Orbis 216 Contributors also include

Neil Beardmore; Vuyelwa Carlin; Suryendu Chaudhury;

Holly Day; Lori Drummond-Mundal; Marijana Ilić; Isaac Lee;

Robin Leiper; Tina MacNaughton; T. J. Masluk;

Bert Molsom; George Moore; David Pickering; Lorna Sherry;

Sheila Spence; Geoffrey Winch; Louise Worthington

Orbis 215, Spring 2026

Front cover artwork: ‘Clothespins’ by Cori Lee Marvin: https://marvindale.ca/

***

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)

‘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)

****

Single issue: £6.00 (Overseas: £12/€14/$16);
Subs: £20/4 pa (Overseas: £47/€55/$75)

Associate Editor (Book Reviews): Maria Isakova-Bennett

Reviews by:

Philip Dunkerley; Jenny Hockey; D.A.Prince;

Pauline Rowe; Theresa Sowerby

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

****

May still counts as Spring, does it not,

if mainly because of the weather… and before you know it,
all that gardening: is that why Sam Smith is wondering
Grass Again? Leaves Again? He could maybe ask for help from Mike Barlow
and The Carpathian Cousin To Whom I’m Not Related…

Or go for something completely different, like bird watching; Mark McDonnell

tells us about the Heron-soul.What I Notice Now, says Tim Dwyer

is what Patrick Deeley has to tell us in A Letter From Gita…

or why Paul Jeffcutt has to confess, Dear Reader, I Murdered Him.

As long as it’s not Things from childhood which may still do me harm

(Nick Pearson), as haunting as Usha Kishore’s description of Ghosts,

or perhaps as reminiscent as Jill Husser’s Madeleine.

But if tackling a Rope Bridge with Nick Conrad,

you and Sekhar Banerjee may feel the need for A Rosary.

And is reading poetry out loud like Kate Noakes’ Gold in the mouth?

Well, let’s hope reading this issue of Orbis proves valuable

Featured Writer: Anne Taylor,There’s a bear living rent-free
in my head; I invite my children out to lunch with Bear;

I don’t believe in the Afterlife; Monkey blues

Poems from: Teresa Ariosto, The Loneliness Of The Salmon;
Pamela Galloway,Three crones make a wish;
John Menaghan, Forgetting the Dead;
Yogesh Patel,The Endoscopy will see you now;
Kelli Rule, The Day I Had a Psychotic Break
and Took a Bath While Wearing Six Formal Dresses;
R. C. Thomas, Weasel Steals The City

Prose from Gary Bills, Solstice Donuts;
Maria Isakova-Bennett, The Bookclub, 2009;
Marie Lecrivain, A Date With Nobody

Translation: Anthony Costello and Anna Wilby:
Laken by Jan Wagner

Past Master: Lindy Newns on Yoksana Akiko

Orbis 215 Contributors also include

Sheila Aldous; Andrew Barnes; Anna Bowles;

C M Buckland; James Conway; Kathleen Gray;

Pauline Hall; Linda King; John McOwat;
Martina Maria Mancassola; Jane Mellor; Kathy Miles;

Jan Moran Neil; Gene Ann Newcomer;

Terence Quinn; Roger White; Jay Wickersham

Orbis 214, Winter 2025

Front cover artwork: ‘Kimono my House‘ by David Jones
davidjonesart.artweb.com

***

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)

:‘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)

****

Single issue: £6.00 (Overseas: £12/€14/$16); Subs: £20/4 pa (Overseas: £47/€55/$75)

Associate Editor (Book Reviews): Maria Isakova-Bennett

Reviews by:

Philip Dunkerley; David Harmer; Jenny Hockey; D.A.Prince; Pauline Rowe; Andrew Taylor; Pam Thompson

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

****

Here it is, at long last, and well worth waiting for, whether,
like Paddy Moran, you’re fascinated about Caged birds
at migration time or Martha Stainsby, being Aglimmer With Fireflies,
although, alas, neither you nor Stephen Bygrave may have
‘No access to Love Supreme’. Never mind, you could go with
Cathy Ryan on The Dive, or help Nuala Ni Chonchuir,
Making Gelato In The Scottish Highlands, or visit Loisada
in the company of Tim Campbell. How about dedicating your work
To the St Bernard dog, up to his chest in the pebbly shallows
of Sudurad harbour (Richard Hughes). Finally,
witness a Renaissance alongside Zoe Karathanasi,
or relish Lavanya Arora’s description of the Last interview
with a poet-painter from another generation, then
what David Punter has to tell you when The Critic Speaks.
Wonder what that says about this issue…?

Featured Writer: David Elder

A Punctuation of Trees; Torrent Ducks; Songs Of Watery Sadness; Researching ‘Burnt Norton’; Unfinished, By Vincent

Poets include Lavanya Arora: Even though I am jobless; Stephen Bygrave: ‘No access to Love Supreme’;
Tim Campbell: Loisada; Paul Ings: Coarse; Nuala Ni Chonchuir: We Go to Pompeii; Cathy Ryan: The Dive

Prose from Phil Knight: The Groundskeeper; Janet Laugharne: Checkerboard Meeting At Scheveningen;
Tina MacNaughton: Three Times A Lady

Translation

Mirko Boncaldo, two untitled poems,
one co-edited with Ranald Barnicot

Past Master: Philip Dunkerley on José Martí

Reviews by: Philip Dunkerley; David Harmer; Jenny Hockey;

D.A.Prince; Pauline Rowe; Andrew Taylor; Pam Thompson

Orbis 214 Contributors also include

Jane Blanchard; Stephen Capus; Tina Cole; Gail Dendy; Steve Denehan; David Dumouriez;
Diarmuid Fitzgerald; Jean Harvey; Pauline Hawkesworth; Joseph Hazelgrove
Doreen Hinchliffe; Liz McSkeane; Richard Palmer; Helen Pletts; Judith Pollinger; John Priestley;

Chris Rice; Christopher Southgate; Lynne Taylor; Vivienne Tregenza; Dorothy Yamamoto

Readers’ Award, Orbis 213

Joint 1: Trish Kerrison (Handle With Care)l;
Emmaline O’Dowd (A dream of life-dentistry);
Stuart Pickford (What Day Is It?)

Joint 2: Denise Bennett (Waking The Orchids); Stephanie DuPont (No Sound but Trees);
Jan FitzGerald ( The Cats Of Istanbul); Teresa Heeks (Bricks);

Joint 3: Annemarie Cooper (The Mermaid Of NW9);
Wendy Goulstone (In Dublin With James Joyce);
Anne Osbourn (Praise Poem); Terry Sherwood (Birding With John Clare)

Joint 4: Amelia Dowler (Kitchen, evening); Oz Hardwick (364.1523);
Jenny Hockey (Edict); John McKeown (Her Gold Dress)

Honourable mentions

Ruth Arnison; Shamik Banerjee; Salvatore Difalco; Philip Dunkerley; Aidan Fadden;
Lucy Hamilton; Claire Louise Hunt; L.B. Jørgensen; Carole Glasser Langille;
Anne Osbourn; Stephen Eric Smyth; Miriam Sulhunt; Peter Sutton

Orbis 213, Autumn 2025

Front Cover Artwork: ‘The Cats Of Istanbul’ by Jan FitzGerald

***

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)

‘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)

****

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;
Pauline Rowe; Andrew Taylor; Pam Thompson

Please note with new collections, press release in first instance

to the Book Reviews Editor - not review copies. And not to me,,,

****

Contents roaming far and wide as ever, for example, Alle C. Hall and Kon Tiki, likewise,

Emmaline O’Dowd, who is also At sea, while Marjory Woodfield ventures Beyond Arabia.

All a matter of Perspective, Teresa Heeks can tell you, but once back home,

would you like to find out about The Mermaid Of NW9, from Annemarie Cooper?

Or what exactly is Salvatore Difalco’s Buzz The Witty And The Fair?

Although, like Shamik Banerjee, you are sure to know all about A Poet’s Desk,

Then something to admire, with John McKeown, Her Gold Dress; never mind if you,

and Stuart Pickford, don’t know What Day Is It? Or, maybe, like L.B. Jørgensen, The Time(r)… Sorry.

Ah well, Aidan Fadden will tell you, anything can happen it seems, on our Rogue Planet,

so to finish with, and to whet your curiosity: Carole Glasser Langille

and Afraid is an adjective, to be – a verb.

You can find out more, in the latest issue of Orbis.

Featured Writer: Anne Osbourn

Praise Poem; Do we need to machine-learn orange in order to understand Autumn?;

Take my hand; REM; Elusions

Poets include Jan FitzGerald: The Cats Of Istanbul; Annemarie Cooper: The Mermaid Of NW9;
Salvatore Difalco: Buzz The Witty And The Fair; Teresa Heeks: Bricks; Trish Kerrison: Tether’s End;
John McKeown: Her Gold Dress; Stuart Pickford: Yellow Submarine

Prose from David McVey: Justice Delayed; Fiona Vigo Marshall: The Passeig;

Stephen Eric Smyth: Murramarra-Sha-na

Translation

Judith Wilkinson, clouds in bassurels;

wolken in bassurels by Miriam Van hee

Past Master: Stephanie DuPont on Phillis Wheatley Peters

Orbis 213 Contributors also include

Ruth Arnison; John Arnold; Denise Bennett; Amelia Dowler;

Philip Dunkerley; Wendy Goulstone; Lucy Hamilton; Oz Hardwick; Jenny Hockey;

Claire Louise Hunt; Chris Johnson; L.B. Jørgensen; Robert Kennedy; Clifford Liles;

Peter Lockhart; Mark Mansfield; Andrew Oram; Chiara Salomoni; Partha Sarkar;

Terry Sherwood; Michael Spinks; Miriam Sulhunt; Peter Sutton

Orbis 212, Summer 2025

Front Cover Artwork: ‘Bookworm’ by Kelly Marie Davidson
https://www.art2arts.co.uk/kelly-marie-davidson

***

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)

****

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, Andrew Taylor, Pam Thompson

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

****

One arm tied behind my back? With a bad shoulder,

putting this issue together certainly took some doing – but here we are.
Besides, it’s not as if tricky experiences can’t inspire poems.

Or tricky people, characters if you will, like The family physician, described by Michael Henry. And What They Say, as Roberto Christiano says…

But while you and Christian Worby make an early start,

off before dawn, it’s even more so with Mark Czanik: Poem in August.

So how about joining Daniel Fraser at The Lough, or Enda Coyle-Greene,

In The Musée d’Orsay? Myra Schneider, admiring The Gold Mask in The British Museum; Maria Isakova-Bennett, and The Rose and the Plate?

And wouldn’t you like to know what Sue Davies means by Milooma? In the end,

be assured by Sue Johns, because the contents of Orbis will all Dovetail

Featured Writer

Roberto Christiano: Jogging
My 101 Year Old Mother’s Memory
Deep In The Woods; What They Say
Game Of Roses

My Computer Guy Tells Me That When

Poets include Aaron Aquilina (Common Snapping Turtle); Benson Bobrick (Samson); Patricia Brody (Lost Art); Mark Czanik (Poem in August); Paul Genega (RIP); Maria Isakova-Bennett (The Rose and the Plate); Marilyn Ricci

(Treat your fear); Christian Worby (off before dawn)

Prose from Mickey J. Corrigan (Young Blood); Sue Davies (Crush);

Mark Reece (Large boats)

Translation:

Karen Petersen, The Way of Things; Tibetan Poet: Geshe Tashi Dhondup

Past Master: Ben Keatinge on John Boyle O’Reilly

Orbis 212 Contributors also include

Ed Blundell; Claire Booker; Angela Brodie; Jim Conwell;

Terry Culleton; Christine Curtis; Alan Dixon; Simon Fletcher;

Ann Gibson; Jenny Hamlett; Sean Howard; Ralph Mold;

Katherine Noone; Gabrielle O’Donovan; Ali Pardoe; Jo Peters; Jenna Plewes; Mykyta Ryzhykh; K.V. Skene; Davide Trame; Paul Truan

Readers’ Award, Orbis 211

Joint 1: Janet Laugharne (Marginal); Harry Waight (Man is born on fire)

Joint 2: Julie Burke (Goldilocks: a reflection on a life of crime); Fíona Donaghey (The Children’s Sunshine Home); S. C. Flynn (Children of the ice); Eve Jackson (Sculpted); Jane McLaughlin (Chilli Pepper)

Joint 3: Rob McClure (The Relativity of Simultaneity); Sara McNeill (West Highland Way); Angela Martinot (What is that elephant doing in my dream?); Martin Zarrop (Lift)

Joint 4: Fran Bourassa (The Land); David Callin (On preparing a wren pole); Michael Foley (The old man and the wind); Natalie Fry (The Land Turtle)

Orbis 211

Spring 2025

Front cover artwork: ‘Plein Air’ by Jerry LoFaro

Orbis 210,

Winter 2024

Front Cover Artwork: ‘Bauble‘ by Tiffany Budd

Orbis 209

Autumn 2024

Front cover artwork: ‘Underworld’ by David Jones

Orbis 208

Summer 2024

Front cover artwork: ‘Good Night Irene‘ by Van Renselar

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