What? I have my best ideas on the move – in the car, the forest path, the check-out queue. I often tie a knot in the thought and let it cling like a burr where the very importance of it scratches my brain though I never keep a note of little details like what […]
5th November – 100 words
5th November Scorching faces, freezing bums. The Gunpowder Plot 1605. An effigy in your old jumper writhes and tumbles into the orange where ghosts of older blazes tangle in the smoke. As you gather half-hot and brave against the shadows, invisible eyes are watching from the inky chill. The darkness behind you is so […]
Beastie time of year – 100 words
Beastie time of year there’s a hard-winged moth clattering in my lamp shade windowsill mortuaries attended by flies on their backs buzzing grief spiders the size of your hand skulk malevolent as a daddy long legs dances by carelessly dropping a limb to the floor – after all, it has plenty to spare mysterious […]
Where’s that? – 100 words
Where’s that? Indian Summer Indian giver Bermuda shorts Glasgow kiss Chinese whispers Not for all the tea in China Chinese Burn Dutch courage Going Dutch Dutch uncle Double Dutch Road to Damascus New York minute French kiss French letter French knickers French onion French horn Sent to Coventry Brussels sprout Coals to Newcastle German […]
Autumn term – 100 words
Autumn term New shoes Pencil cases Scratchy shirts with names on them Who’s my teacher? Will my friends still like me? What is that at the bottom of the bag, from before A lifetime ago Different teacher: different world A world when it ran like a machine A bad-tempered machine Homework, gym kit, lunches, […]