Tuesday 14th October 2025

The Source

Fresh-water

I am no longer a mother—I have surrendered my body to the surgeon’ssea shells and fish bones; and my sonto the teal press of synthetic skin and the clean...

‘Pour summer in a glass’: retracing Dandelion Wine

“You did not hear them coming. You hardly heard them go. The grass bent...

Perhaps, Oxford

We met at a Latin meeting hosted by the Oxford Ancient Languages Society at...

How to Say Goodbye to the Cities You’ve Loved

For those of us between borders, home is not fixed; it’s cumulative.

W.H. Auden at the Bus Stop: In Praise of Intellectual Delay

It’s a damp Tuesday afternoon, and W.H. Auden is waiting patiently at the bus stop...

A Pelican Crossing Somewhere on Green Dragon Lane

"The passage of time is a bloodthirsty hound."

Easter Eggs

"I’m really sorry I missed your house. Even the Easter Bunny can make mistakes."

Hand over Heart

"So bite the heel that walked you home in the rain"

Copies

"I want them, long after I leave, to remain together."

love letter

"a stamp can’t be used again, only kept or discarded."

The Longest Goodbye

Oxford became a home I hadn’t known I was missing – a place that understood me without asking. 

The Ghosts She Felt Acutely

This year, with the inaugural Blackwell’s Short Story Prize, Cherwell aimed to reconnect with its roots as a literary magazine in the 1920s, when our undergraduate...

Letter from the Orient

This year, with the inaugural Blackwell’s Short Story Prize, Cherwell aimed to reconnect with its roots as a literary magazine in the 1920s, when our undergraduate...

A Short Sharp Shock to the Skull

This year, with the inaugural Blackwell’s Short Story Prize, Cherwell aimed to reconnect with its roots as a literary magazine in the 1920s, when our undergraduate...

Rhonda May

This year, with the inaugural Blackwell’s Short Story Prize, Cherwell aimed to reconnect with its roots as a literary magazine in the 1920s, when our undergraduate...

Any Blue Will Do

This year, with the inaugural Blackwell’s Short Story Prize, Cherwell aimed to reconnect with its roots as a literary magazine in the 1920s, when our undergraduate...

Splat!

This year, with the inaugural Blackwell’s Short Story Prize, Cherwell aimed to reconnect with its roots as a literary magazine in the 1920s, when...

Dindymene: A Dream

And on the seventh day, we found HER temple, feasted on HER sight. Enthroned. Flanked by mammoths on both sides. There, there! Berry-ringed fingers on berry-strung vines:...

In the Beginning

I was alone with the earth and the sun before youcame along: there was no life, no song, not even words.My hope had been...

To Julian – Ella O’Shea

you’re enwombed within stone, this anchorhold,wool on your skin, the draught on your feetink on your nose, barley in your teeth.to look at a...

Mitosis

A letterA single-cell, Stuttering, Reoccurring, Scrap on /The page /Fragmented/Born from pain …A zygote …Dividing… Turning inwards;Malformormed; Abortorted;Misbirthirthed-I would choose- An embryo that...

Advert for a Girl

Girl, 22. Average height,  Average weight. Average-sized, father-figure shaped hole 2 inches left of lower sternum. Needily accommodating Selflessly self-deprecating Outsize ego easily compactable To fit all inferiority complex related needs.  Available for...

Lessons From A Taiwanese Coaster

I woke up in a world Where everything was beautiful, And nothing hurt.

The com(m)e(n)t

Scrunching it into a ball,  you toss it atmospheric, out of sight. 

Follow us