Our most recent theme, 🦋 TRANSFORMATION 🦋, has now entered our theme archive. Read all the wonderful pieces submitted to this theme in one easily accessible location 🧡 apricotpress.co.uk/2025/10/1…

‘When I have thoughts on giving up this gift, this only gift the Lord conferred on me…’ Closing our theme of 🕊️ HOPE 🕊️, Shamik Banerjee’s poignant sonnet, ‘When I have thoughts on giving up this gift’, considers the hope that fuels creativity. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/10/0…

‘My church is full of ghosts. They displaced the few ancient ones from Before, who’d lingered here...’ JP Relph’s moving flash fiction piece, ‘The Ministering of Souls’, follows a priest seeking hope and meaning in a new world. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/10/0…

‘The morning undresses light that orbits through Libra. I drag down like a boulder into water.’ Narya Rose Deckard’s beautiful poems, ‘The Return’ and ‘The Woman in the Hollow’, draw upon folklore and legends. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/10/0…

‘And in the leaving, what scares you?’ The life that rotted alongside mine. The lips I came close to but didn’t kiss.’ Úna Ní Nualláin’s poignant poems, ‘Some potential grief’ and ‘Burning the love letter’, search for hope in new beginnings. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/10/0…

‘Living fossil, unchanged for 200 million years. Survivor of cataclysm, roots clutch bactrosaurus bones.’ Bex Hainsworth’s beautiful poem, ‘Ginkgo Biloba’, takes inspiration from one of Earth’s oldest trees. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/10/0…

‘The bees lazily linger on the hummingbird feeder, as the apricot sunset changes its hue. The first flit of stars appear right over the mountains.’ Rachel Turney’s poignant poem, ‘September Sunset’, reflects on a moment of metamorphosis. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/09/3…

‘We dance amongst burnt marigolds, and bite the saline sun. Frolicking with you in this crisp season wheezes like coming undone.’ Ellie Sparks’ beautiful poem, ‘Coming Undone’, meditates on how relationships bring out new sides of ourselves. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/09/3…

‘Of all the kids in the class, he is the only one who never even glances up when Ada is ushered into the room by the head teacher.’ In Laura Theis’ moving short story, ‘Cocoa’, a blossoming friendship cultivates hope. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/09/2…

‘We walk and walk. We climb. Suddenly there among the trees are two ponies.’ Emily Tee’s beautiful poems, ‘On Encountering Wild Ponies on Exmoor’ and ‘Fear of Flying’, consider the hope found in the natural world, and in taking a leap of faith. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/09/2…

‘The day we brought you into this world was the most emotionally confusing day of our lives.’ Harry James Forkan’s moving short story, ‘Flying Blind’, considers the fear and hope present in early parenthood. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/09/2…

‘I breathe oxygen into air there is a forest inside me When the sun bares down in harsh tones my treetops filter her light’ Sandra Beth Levy’s beautiful poem, ‘A Thousand Lungs’, explores the power of hope. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/09/2…

‘Clouds scattered, bird torn. Early forages along barest shine.’ Filled with rich imagery, Helen Fulker’s poem, ‘Light above the Bay’, explores how we find hope in the natural landscape. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/09/2…

‘You leave at the tail end of a fading afternoon in a town you ended up in by accident’ Helen Gillespie Brown’s beautiful poem, ‘Hope in Passing’, meditates on a moment of death. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/09/2…

‘Life has used me. It sucked the sweet, chewed down to the core. It wants to spit that last little bit— throw out the pit. Life is finished with me.’ Erich von Hungen’s (@PoetryForce) moving poem, ‘What Remains’, champions the persistence of hope. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/09/2…

‘I come to a stop in the staff car park, another black morning, dragging myself from my bed of bad dreams.’ Ann Marie Dunne’s beautiful poem, ‘Hanging in’, considers how we cultivate hope over time. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/09/2…

‘I forgot to sow my California poppies seeds pushed to the back of a drawer The oak leaves form a blanket though fall has come and gone’ Mara Lovelock’s moving poem, ‘Beauty in the Waiting’, considers a hopeful action. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/09/1…

‘We learn our illness well (sugar and spice and all things nice)’ Peter Devonald’s (@petedevonald) poignant poem, ‘Notes from a Rare Disease’, considers hope in the face of a prognosis. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/09/1…

‘I have lived in the same part of south London most of my life. To me, London is a set of interlocking villages and communities of interest...’ Emily Hay’s charming short story, ‘Artist in Residence’, charts the perseverance of an artist. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/09/1…

‘In barking twilight when sugared moon snaps at cooling earth we retract our peanut brittle claws’ Zoë Davis’ (@MeanerHarker) beautiful poems, ‘Wolf Moon’ and ‘heartfell’, explore the interplay of hope in our relationships with others and ourselves. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/09/1…

‘When I am depressed, I look for feathers.’ Alice Harrison’s poignant poem, ‘I Look for Feathers’, considers how our emotional states connect to the natural world. apricotpress.co.uk/2026/09/1…