Oli Spleen The second to last time I saw Nick Hudson was at the start of March 2023. I had booked a two week trip to visit him in Tbilisi Georgia in the hope of performing a gig together and maybe bashing out a couple of Charles Aznavour covers while soaking up the sights and…
Merlin Betts My mind goes back to Winter last year, the wind and the rain along the seafront, making my way from St Leonards, the lights in Bottle Alley, the waves shifting between the shadows. The storm whipping my coat as I turn to head up Robertson Street and then scamper over and around the…
Merlin Betts I read this and I immediately thought of the biblical Eve. I bet a lot of you did too. Eve, or an archetypal woman. I didn’t know that “All About Eve” also refers to a band, and that their name comes from a 1950s film, “All About Eve”, which is about women lecherously…
Text: Oli Spleen. Photo: Oli with long-time friend and trans activist Fox Fisher. By Proud Parkers Photography. When Hastings Independent Press first launched over eleven years ago, its founding mission was to offer a unique community-led alternative to the mainstream fearmongering, scapegoating and divisive rhetoric that is the fodder of the daily tabloids. For many…
By Marilyn GarsonPublished by Circaidy Gregory Press, 2025, RRP £12. Review by Tim Barton One day everyone will have always been against this, is a new book by journalist Omar El Akkad. The title is taken from a tweet he posted on October 25th 2023: “One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside…
Kalai Preston Surrender to the moments around, Supplicate to the eternal sound. Heaven draws you ever nearer,When you hold your soul ever dearer. Listen to the subtle waves,Of light dancing and be saved.There is beauty to behold, If you are only ever bold. Surrender into every moment, Realise that you too are golden. We cannot…
Sarah Gomes Harris Marry me Finally a proposal finally of finallys Marry me I sayI shout Empassioned Caught up from courting the unknown brushing misreadings until it WAS known billboard after billboard of years of strange sexual chemistry With a semidetached house The house knew it I knew it But we daren’t admit it to…
Karina Patfield I borrow a bedsit from a landlord who borrowsthe bedsit from a bank. Its crackedroof spits raindrops and slugs creepon wet carpet the landlord sits close, on my sofaon tickhis rich, dry body groansnext to mineI feed my giro to the leccyhe holds his hand underneathpiling coins in his palm I ask for…
Anonymous Southern Housing Tenant I sleep till 3pm, 5pm in the afternoon, wishing away my day. Othertimes sleep doesn’t come at all, thoughts, conversations, emails whirl aroundin my head. All I smell is damp, dank mould and I cough feeling as if I cannot breathe. And I scream an inward scream for sleep because I…
Oli Spleen On September 10, Moth Light Press will publish a book to commemorate two hundred years of Hastings poetry. Poet Town: The Poetry of Hastings & Thereabouts will be released in two paperback editions, featuring images of the contemporary poets in their chosen locations, brilliantly captured by photographer Maxine Silver. The first section of…