A VERY short story containing elderly zombies and a fête. Because: why not?
Sugar
Sugar
winter has come
to our cottage by the sea
the sun sets early
the moon rises pale and cold
and all around
the cane fields char
wafting ash and the stink
of burned molasses into the sky
the night is heavy with sweet offense
and we wake from dreams of nothing
filled with the longing for sugar
Father
Father
You come to the house at 3 a.m. in the cold.
Your mother greets you at the door with no words,
only pebbles in her mouth.
You walk along the dim hallway
to a small room flooded with light.
It contains twin beds, a dusty mirror,
fading prints, dark wood.
It contains the end of the world.
There is a ringing in your ears
as you kiss your father for the last time.
Posting holiday…
Dear Readers Sorry for the gap in posts... I'm on a little 'posting holiday' at present. It's been occasioned by the need to move out of our house while renovations happened. We're back now – with more functional kitchen, bathroom and bedroom, and a vast quantity of dust and general chaos. So I'm in clean-up-and-organising …
Joy is in the making: a note to tired artists
Mired in ordinary life, in the day-to-day and humdrum, we strive for something transcendent. And sometimes, against all odds, find it in the simplest things. Between the daily grind, the deadlines met (or missed). Between the laundry and the shopping and the kids' demands. Between the elderly relatives, and their complaints, and our own. Between …
Continue reading Joy is in the making: a note to tired artists
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(a novel post) "His skin is lilac beneath grey shadows. His eyes are dark and wide to drink the low light. Come closer. See the slim limbs, the strange skin. He sits unmoving in the hardwood chair in the dusty attic room. This boy has grown roots, become a nest of stems and branches, a living, breathing tree, alone in the dreaming night. Here is a tale worth believing." And the starting point for my current work in progress...
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A small litany of excuses …
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Judging books by their covers
We all do it, don't we? I know I do. Especially if I don't know the author well, or at all. And, if the cover attracts me, I'm far more likely to click through and consider reading, or buying, or at least adding to a list. We're all visual animals. Which may explain why 97.3% …
