Susan Tepper is the author of nine published books of fiction and poetry. Her most recent titles are CONFESS a poetry chapbook (Cervena Barva Press, 2020) and the quirky road novel WHAT DRIVES MEN (Wilderness House Press, 2019). Tepper has received eighteen Pushcart Prize Nominations and other awards and honors. 

All The Women Look Like God

We hang around the places
that did us the most harm—
(never mind) it was we
who caused deliberate harm
unspeakable atrocities.
Unable to see beyond our cravings.
More and more and more
delicious delights each day
brought another beauty to
share the bed ‘til our heads
filled with troughs of wine
bent like horses
drinking
from the almighty stream.

When Anne was led by guards
from Tower Bridge to Tower Green
I could have
halted it. I was The King.
Instead I had as many excuses
as the sky has stars.
A Frenchman wielding a sword
took off her head. I felt
I’d done my duty, it could have been
the axe which is far less precise.

All too late now. All is passed.
I study the modern glass tower.
A tall pointed shard
gleaming in the clouds.
Time is only a factor
when during life it begins shrinking.

Digby Beaumont

Digby Beaumont is an artist and a writer. In his art, as in his writing, he is always exploring the idea of how best to produce some emotional response to the work He is a self-taught artist. An interview with him about his art plus a showcase of some of his portraiture feature in the November 2019 issue of the online journal, Tupelo Quarterly. As a short fiction writer his work has been published in numerous print and online literary journals and anthologies. His collection of flash fiction, one-page stories, Dancing Alone and Other Lessons, was released in early 2020. Digby has also published numerous English language textbooks with Heinemann and Macmillan, including international bestsellers. He lives by the seaside on the south coast of England. You can see more of his work on his website: https://digbybeaumont.com/