We are open for submissions until November 30th, 2025. Short stories can be anywhere between 500 and 5000 words in length. Please send no more than four poems. Please send in word docs rather than in PDF. These submissions will be considered for our online Story of the Month series, our online Poet of the…
The Lonely Crowd will feature new work by a different poet each month throughout 2025. For November, we are delighted to publish three new works by Brian Kirk. The first of these, ‘Keepsakes‘, is published today with two more poems to follow throughout the month. Keepsakes We kept our grandparents in a dusty box…
The Lonely Crowd will feature new work by a different poet each month throughout 2025. For October, we are delighted to publish three new works by Michelle Penn. The final installment of these, ‘Why acceptance is like sleep’, is published today. I launch my arrows — at the eye of sleep —…
The Lonely Crowd will feature a new short story by a different author each month throughout the remainder of 2025. For October, we are delighted to publish a new piece by Megan Neary. Michael left his apartment and walked to the spot along the curb where he had parked his car. It was gone. ‘Fuck,…
someone pumped the rooms full of cement obliterating tassel lamps, wood floors, sinks (the rings of Saturn are disappearing, the rings — ) kitchen, bedrooms, lounge, bath everything solid stopped the stairwells (ring-rain water from the icy rings pelting down) someone made this house a wall (the rings shrinking …
The Lonely Crowd will feature new work by a different poet each month throughout 2025. For October, we are delighted to publish three new works by Michelle Penn. The first of these, ‘I’m arranging angels on the head of a pin‘, is published today with two more poems to follow throughout the month. I’m arranging…
When a new teacher took a different approach to algebra it began to make sense. Rain dribbled down the high windows, their panes rattled in the wind. At break, a compass point became a gouge lifting splinters of wood from my desk lid. The letters I’d carved were blonde against dark wood – ILLYA…
The Lonely Crowd will feature a new short story by a different author each month throughout the remainder of 2025. For September, we are delighted to publish a new piece by Penny Simpson.
(In 1938 a group of hunger marchers entered the Palm Court at the Ritz Hotel.)
I was at a loss.
I’d just given a couple celebrating their silver wedding
a silver teapot of Oolong.
The Lonely Crowd will feature new work by a different poet each month throughout 2025. For September, we are delighted to publish three new works by Chrissie Gittins. The first of these, ‘The Islands of the Bahamas’, is published today with more poems to follow throughout the month.
Our Poet of the Month for August is Shauna Gilligan. Here she discusses the creative process behind the three poems we have published throughout the month.
In the prison yard burst footballs still trapped in barbed wire, a grey watchtower still against the winter steel sky above the visiting room where his rough lips give way when we kiss pushing the loneliness down. At night cries ripple through the landing; I shut my eyes, dream of outside. My girl:…
‘Daughter, Frizzante (In Padova)’ In my candy-floss mind where everything sticks: our fingers are entwined, your plump baby hand still curled tightly around my hair. These days our rushed goodbyes push us to let go, bid farewell to the mess of childhood and the hot smothering of raw motherhood. What sticky…
Blood pooled in the palm of her outstretched hand and a single red tear rolled down her wrist. Truth be known, it turned his stomach. She had been crying and her knickers were on the bathroom floor.