card delivery
wears the dogs out
long walk
© Rachel Green September 2026
Finding Jesus
it turns out the DNA
collected from the Shroud of Turin
in the late seventies
matches the profile of a man alive today.
Jesus reborn, perhaps?
By coincidence, Jesus is the very scientist
who collected the original samples
for the shroud itself.
Consider my mind blown.
Not.
© Rachel Green September 2026
Turin Shroud DNA 'Jesus' claim hits a snag: Strongest match points to man who collected samples
dizzy spell
while practising self-defence.
Sparring declined.
© Rachel Green September 2026
Open Case
dead man
in the furnished flat
of a deconsecrated church
with a market hall inside.
A moderate gargoyle guards
the apartment unoccupied
and the active Ring cameras
show him breaking in, stealing food
and sleeping in the bed.
Then a fountain of blood
as he lies there sleeping
© Rachel Green September 2026
please wash
his pants and socks daily.
Poor man.
© Rachel Green September 2026
septuagenarian
life choices
but Kent Kubasta
of Wooster, Ohio
may have gone wrong somewhere
because he's been convicted.
Illegal GPS tracker
attached to the van
of a Pokémon card distributor.
Dude, when you're seventy-two
is this your life ambition?
And if you need to mug a driver,
why?
© Rachel Green September 2026
two non-binaries
we refer to as 'The Them'
good omens
© Rachel Green September 2026
Undead
her daughter died
what else was she to do
but grieve and regret the act
that sent the girl to her grave.
Wishing for her
is never advisable
in a world where magic can work
and where 'I wish her alive again'
does not mean the same thing as
'I wish she hadn't died.'
© Rachel Green August 2026
Warm sunshine
venturing without a jacket
fresh graves
© Rachel Green September 2026
Unsold
sometimes
the painting doesn't work;
refusing to satisfy;
boards can be painted over;
unfired ceramics dissolved;
canvas re-stretched,
but what of watercolours?
The paper is ruined;
the pigment permeates fibres
and all I can do
is to cut and recycle;
segments in collages and festive cards
unsold
© Rachel Green August 2026
McDonald's ad
"Great tasting coffee*"
*three spoons of sugar
© Rachel Green September 2026
Lucy
"It's weird," she said,
"that you can be an app
that's popular world-wide
and there's someone you know;
someone you've seen walking about;
so I just thought I'd say hello."
It made my day, this little interaction,
and strangers are just friends
who are waiting in the wings.
© Rachel Green August 2026
treacherous;
the apples taste delicious.
Whoops! diarrhoea
© Rachel Green September 2026
Ascension
From the top deck of the bus
I saw a man dressed as an angel
and carrying a trumpet;
not the 'he must play jazz' kind
but the sort in Biblical tales
where the walls tumble down
because the note covered the sound
of saboteurs tunnelling beneath;
and my heart felt a chill
because maybe Revelations had been right,
and the Seven Seals were about to be broken,
but ten I realised we were passing the BBC
and the guy was just an extra.
© Rachel Green August 2026
