I once watched an artist paint the sky. His brush caressed the canvas like a lover’s kiss. His every fluent movement, poetry in motion. At least, I thought so. The painter did not. Whether it frustration, or a lack of imagination, who knew? But the fellow grew so incensed, he snatched each sheet from his […]
It lay in the street like a puddle of blood. A soft liquid, downy, not right, I approached this small death with tentative steps. The blood shifted as if to pour away. Startled, I recoiled. Though detested by this fear of something so small, this unexpected disturbance, I regathered. My breaths steadied to a pulsing […]
It was not her perfume, exquisite though it was Neither was it her hair, the colour of a waking dream Nor her lithe and slender body, mesmerising as a nymph It was her eyes, always her eyes Those light-consumptive orbs of splendour Darker than the abyss and deeper than the pit Blacker than black, as […]
“Call me old-fashioned but I like my pants clean, pressed and swishing.” “You’re old-fashioned.” “Thanks.” “You’re very welcome, gramps.” “There’s nothing wrong with looking and feeling smart.” “And there wasn’t in the seventies, either, eh?” “Cheeky sod.” “Look, I’m telling you this as your friend, purple velour pants and an orange crinoline shirt’s only gonna […]
There once was a boy who lived in a hole. There in the warm, musty darkness where roots embraced him, he hid from the bright world outside. He hid from the loud, the violent and crude. He hid from the harm they’d done. They found him cringing that meekest of creatures, pushed in a corner […]
Celeste radiated something akin to love, a certain lukewarm appreciation. Mama called this cunning — Celeste prickled behind her eyes. Papa said it smarts — Celeste upset his oversensitive gut. Me? Celeste melted my heart. Was I suspicious? Never! Celeste could have bought and sold us. Our secret, until after the wedding.
She kept a bowl of flowers on the sideboard I never once saw wilt. Regardless of the time of year, weather, or the close attentions of her ginger cat named — unsurprisingly — Ginger, the flowers thrived. They were pink, pretty even, but never worth more than a cursory glance. I passed those flowers every […]
