Forge Zine #4 (September 2019)

September 2019 @ForgeZine

@forgezine

@ForgeZine

Forge Zine

#4

rk is o Y re in Whe his? t

Editorial ramble Hello all! I’m so glad to see so many new names in this edition. I’d like to thank you all for supporting our little dream. I am excited to announce the cliché theme for our next issue. That’s right, you guessed it! In the month of All Hallows' Eve we’re going spooky! Feel free to submit any piece of writing or art that gives you the shivers. Please remember that due to our finances we only print in black and white (we’re working on that, I promise!).

Once again thank you for your continued support and we hope you enjoy the creativeness that follows.

TRIGGER WARNING: As always, we warn you that this edition contains subjects that may be sensitive to individuals. Please do not be offended by this. This is not nor has it ever been the intention of Forge Zine.

Perspective You take the high white pristine clean diamond glinting horse You have no right.

You manipulate words and situations past to make me as small and insignificant as the squashed bug bleeding to death beneath your steel capped boots You have no right.

My sanity and humanity questioned for months because you wanted and got it all You manipulating piece of shit.

I will feel clean and worthy of this life again soon.

I will be so much better off without you in it Watch me be happy and successful without you Be envious.

Eleanor Hartley Smith York, October 2019

I want you silenced with a cut throat turned to stone with a sharp glare I will twist and rip and deceive and squeeze oh I'm sorry; expelled breath burning my lungs did I make you uncomfortable? while I reclaim the stage with my song eternal did I love myself too loudly for your liking? did I respond with apathy when you told me what you thought of I lied; my hair I am not sorry. my clothes my taste you are becoming smaller by the second my being?

I am a tower (untopplable) my existence is anger I am not the soft moon that will not be quelled with your demands I am bigger than the raging sun I will riot and burn you to the ground (unshutuppable) as you mark me with pig’s blood I am the universe, the blood between my thighs must be kept secret wrapping around you, no longer suffocating, exploding with the stars.

I am in the midst of battle every day you cannot keep me meek now a worthy warrior I am inescapable who has taken so many wounds

I AM THE BEAST

with a world of power to unleash I will scream endlessly into the clashing of swords

Rebecca Guy

The Smallest Success a touch of me will send you to hell bound in the chains I have worn since the womb I feel supreme, fuck your suggestions of quiet and calm Climbing up and out, gentleness is my only cure Spewing up the sawdust according to you To strike out at the sky!

Paul Whelan

Moving In [I can see you sobbing over there and I can see that you can see me watching you sobbing over there I’d haul you out of sadness if I knew how I’d lug it around with my current baggage but I don’t know how I don’t know what I can say would you like me to lie about how homesick I am too? or maybe it would be helpful to slink down beside you and restrain you with my slender arm? or would the empty assurances be your cup of tea?…. OR…. THAT’S IT! I’ll get you a cup of tea to evaporate those tears or should I just leave? – I would but I’m still eating here OR: could you just lighten up and cut out this trial?

I’ve got enough with God testing me and the government’s shameful snooping I don’t need an assessment now as I fill my mouth with a chip butty and beans and sausage where do I come into all this?]

Paul Whelan. York, Sept. 2016

September crossword/last month's answers

20th Century Writers

Across 3. Canadian singer-songwriter, started out as a poet. Known for the song 'Hallelujah' (5) 4. First American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Wrote over 39 novels, known for her insight into Chinese life (4) 7. Famous Dystopian Big Brother novel, centred around a year. He is British (6) 9. US writer, you probably hated him at secondary school! The one with the rabbits (9) 10. Irish poet and 1923 Nobel Prize winner (6) Down

1. Described herself as “black, feminist, lesbian, mother and poet�

Known for 'Cables to Rage' and 'Coal' (5) 2. Typically described as the feminist writer of the 20th Century. Her works also address mental illnesses. (5) 5. Author of children's books. Nobel Prize 1907, first Brit and youngest person to receive prize. (boy lives as a bear) (7) 6. Knighted. Known for his humorous works, fantasy novels and radio presence (9) 8. 1985 book now a major TV series that challenges view of women in society (6)

Cryptid Crossword (August)

DOWN 1) Northern term for hobgoblin, namesake of ____ Hole, found between Ravenscar and Robin Hood's Bay, N. Yorkshire. (6) A: Boggle

3) City in West Virginia, where Mothman was reportedly sighted from November 1966 to December 1967. (13) A: Point Pleasant 5) Celtic water spirit, capable of shapeshifting into human form. (6) A: Kelpie 7) Puerto Rican cryptid, the Chupacabra, feeds on the blood of this animal. (4) A: Goat

ACROSS 2) Title of Christina Rosetti's 1862 poem about supernatural fruit sellers. (12) A: Goblin Market

4) Creature from Greek mythology, said to lure sailors to their deaths through enticing song. (5) A: Siren 6) Black Shuck, a legendary creature believed to be an omen of death, terrorises the countryside of this English region. (10) A: East Anglia 8) Name given for Medieval corpses re-animated to haunt the living. (8) A: Revenant

Air Head you see me as a sleek surface; in terms of information, nothing sticks. no experience or expertise has a seat in my mind. it's an empty theatre, screening a reel of pretty colours. never once did it cross your mind that mine could comprehend your shallow intricacies; just because your head is bigger does not mean your brain is.

Moss My love is moss on decaying wood, All consuming.

Soft.

An earthly comfort.

Errol G. Harsley

if your ears were open to my nagging you would be blessed with my words; darts of intelligence and butterflies of humour. my company is a delight that you are bypassing for a route forged by your ego. sadly for you, I can survive without your patronising. you have been abdicated from your shadowy false reign while I thrive and bloom in the light I cast myself here in my kingdom come.

Rebecca Guy

(Sketch by Matthew Barrow)

Heartache for Home Home swapped for heartache, Not sure where I am, Not sure when it ended, Or where it began.

My hands are in my pockets, They're rattling loose change, I just can't wait to get out, Out of this rain.

Nathan Foley

(A Drawing by Matthew Barrow)

Upcoming Events 19th Oct Mug Workshop 64 3rd Oct Poetry workshop with John Walmgate "20 Foggin through York Lit Fest £15 York Until 20th Oct. Jewellery and Library 13.30pm Gemstone event. Antiques Centre 4th Oct Farmers' Market Parliament York £FREE entry!

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