A woman, on her own, is walking home. A perfectly reasonable thing to do, necessary even. How else is she going to get there? She’s wearing flat shoes, a coat. Sensible and brisk. She’s looking eyes front, all purpose, yet her ears are tingling with the effort of straining for the rustling in the undergrowth and […]
Statues: celebrate the changes
A statue tells several stories. One is its subject’s, one is of those who commissioned and created it, and one of how we understand and react to these other stories. Which is most important? Do I need to open this post with a statement about black lives mattering? Surely not… Some things are blindingly obvious, […]
Distraction diaries – write what you know
Write what you know, they say… So I’m trying, simultaneously, to craft a poem about kindness – which I don’t always understand, a short story comparing women to tuning forks, and to empty my head onto the page. Only none of it’s working. Write what you know, they say… I’m too damn distracted. Can’t concentrate. […]
Coronavirus: Beware the free-time fallacy
Stay at home, they said. Save lives, they said. It’ll only be for a while, they said. Look on the bright side, they said. Think of all that time to do the things you’ve been putting off for years. Shakespeare, they said, wrote some good material while social distancing from bubonic plague, and as for […]
Coronavirus: How does this make you feel?
Living in a time of contraditions Saturday morning and obviously, there’s no football, no yoga, no lovely long bike rides to cafes, no cinema, no supermarket shop, nothing doing out there except a brisk walk. Nope. And we know this. It sucks. We know this too. While I gaze out onto quiet, still and silent […]