Poetry is useless
i dive into a poem naked to find clothes too loose to fit; a dead grandfather’s batik shirt buttoned down a sun burnt chest […]
Bruly Bouabré’s ways of seeing
Seven disembodied heads float in a circle, cheek-to-cheek, their chins pointing to a face in the middle. They look like old men: wrinkled foreheads, receding hairlines, long, drawn-out faces, and empty eyes staring out ahead. The shapes of their eyes, noses, mouths are crude and repetitive. This mig
Comics
*** Cartooning is like poetry with intention; the art of pointing out the ridiculous by enshrouding the pointing out with seriousness. In this selection of cartoons, I hope to point out the absurd in places overlooked, and inspire others to think about other aspects of their lives that seem serious,
Climate Change and Social Pacts
*** Whilst carrying out fieldwork this summer, I heard locals from the island of Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands, speak of the deep social bonds we have with the natural elements – particularly water, the wind and the sea. Just like the rest of the world, some locals are concer
i dont want this to end
“i dont want this to end” was the runner-up in The Isis’ ‘500 Words’ competition in Michaelmas 2019. Oliver Hodges, author of “i dont want this to end”, is a student at St Edmund Hall. *** i dont want this to end but im here now and im sorry and i want to make […]
Echo
“Echo” was the winner of The Isis’ ‘500 Words’ competition in Michaelmas 2019. Judge Julian Barnes called it ‘kaleidoscopic’ and the entry which stayed “longest and most intriguingly in the memory”. Ronnie Angel Pope, author of “Echo”, is a student at Universität Basel and Car
Oxford joins the UCU strikes
Large crowds gather outside the Clarendon building on a cold Broad Street, sporting heavy coats and bold slogans. These are protesters, clustered in the rain to kick off eight days of strike action over the pay and teaching conditions of academic staff. Nationwide, sixty universities are participati
Frenzy Playlist
To be in a state of frenzy is to experience an extreme sense of disorientation, to struggle with a confused whirlwind of emotions, or simply to feel the unadulterated joy that can come with the unknown. This playlist hopes to capture these feelings alongside this term’s edition of The Isis. Fr