People are friendlier, they’d help if you got stabbed, you know, dial 999 for you. They just wouldn’t in the south. But it rains a lot: makes everything green. Clouds decorate huge skies, something to look at while you wait for the bus – today’s only bus trundling through mountains, by glistening water to a […]
Patches
Patches There used to be a secret thing only for old women and certainly not happening here. Imagine my confusion (anxiety/upset/irritation/depression/etc) when, all of a sudden, my prime turned into something entirely other. A stultifying mist of shame descended and I hid from concerned gazes: I didn’t have answers: You can’t say: I think I’m […]
Specificity – 100 words
Specificity Findus crispy pancakes served with peas and you’re supper after school, Grange Hill on the telly. Armani glasses anchoring expensively streaked hair, heels with red soles, you know the ones. The clunk of a BMW boot, a Luger, a Rolex, a certain kind jacket. Like a magic portal, a Doors LP deposits you in […]
Letter to Piggy’s aunt – 100 words
Letter to Piggy’s aunt Dear Celia, I apologise for Jack’s behaviour, especially after you showed him so much kindness. I had such high hopes that he could offer you some comfort after the tragedy on the island. He told such grand stories about how Peter laid down his life to protect the younger boys. I […]
free writing – 100 words
Life and soul – 100 words
Life and soul When she lived with a drinker she learned to spot when their focus had shifted to an internal, eternal happy hour. All senses vigilant: smelling sour spilled stuff hearing a booze-fat tongue feeling the shame, inevitability of plans awry. Then, no point in making them in the first place. But still there […]
Forced adoption – 100 words
Forced adoption Imagine him saying ‘mama’ and fat fists reaching out, his stumbling steps, rushing through school gates ‘muum’ child’s voice lifting clear of the chorus – calling to you. Where is he? Who is kissing it better? Are they proud? Scan queues at the amusements, faces in the papers. You’d know him: you could […]
