So. End. Start. Whichever. Ricochet. Start again. Empty-minded. Come here empty-handed. Choose at random. Clean slate. Wipe-clean surface. It worked out. It didn’t quite work. Write up the experiment. Describe what happened. Describe what we expected to happen. Aim and outcome. Aim and fire. Cause and effect. Now cease and desist. What did I discover? What […]
She jokes — nervously, via an exhalation of faint, scattershot giggles — about her paranoia that she might leave a smudged imprint of lipstick on the rim of the wine glass. Human remains that would enable him, with the aid of forensic science, to track her down wherever she chose to hide, whether it was […]
Consider this an abridged omnibus edition. Or consider me lazy. Whichever you prefer. In summary, however, this means that I have failed in my grand but possibly foolhardy intentions to produce 31 pieces of writing during the month of May, and won’t even be satisfying my OCD nature by going back to try and fill […]
Twenty ways about you, twenty reasons to breathe in and out, twenty small mouths to feed, twenty words to write down on twenty scraps of paper, twenty strings to cut, twenty strings to your bow, twenty strings to pluck, twenty strings to tie, twenty tiny packages, twenty passengers overboard. Too perfect, too rounded, too eager […]
Spit. Shit. Piss. Mucus. Blood. Pus. Hammer blow. Jackboot on face. Torn hair. Scarred flesh. Gouged eye. Broken bones. Gaping wound. Jackboot of history. Footprint. Your dictator will see you now. Your dictator will own you now. Your dictator will bury you now. Your dictator will disappear tomorrow morning. Your dictator will live abroad, in […]
I am a liar and a cheat, but only to myself. I can’t help wondering, however, if I am even lying — to myself or to you — if no one is monitoring these airwaves and tuning in to the distant numbers stations broadcasting through the bewildering interference, hiss and garble that we have created […]
a door bolted with one thousand deadlocks can remain ajar this.single.purpose two pinpricks of light a space — a pause sparing words for a nervous approach lowercase platitudes an uneasy full stop a hanging question a pause — a space two pinpricks of light this.single.purpose intoned in grey so as not to waken the merely sleeping
“What age am I? What age now, exactly? That age? That age of. Rage or not rage. That age? Can you say what age I am? Age of reason? Age of chance? Age and a half? What age am I now? What age are you looking for, sir or madam or whichever you prefer? You […]
Words must fall apart. Language must cease to be. All notions of sense and understanding must be exploded, left scarred, a bloodied victim at the side of the road. Sentences must be robbed out like so many bricks and girders, beams and fixtures stolen from the debris of collapsed buildings, leaving only the ghostly echo […]
Words must fall apart. Language must cease to be. All notions of sense and understanding must be exploded, left scarred, a bloodied victim at the side of the road. Sentences must be robbed out like so many bricks and girders, beams and fixtures stolen from the debris of collapsed buildings, leaving only the ghostly echo […]
Her mewling babe nears forty years emerged from the womb. Kept and alive, but not kept. She kneels in the eye of the family mirror, under the accusative pointing of the clock. Girl turns to woman, but stores child-like rhymes in her head, stays sing-song under her breaths. Spreads brick red lipstick carelessly over her mouth, […]
Here is an aeroplane under the floorboards, earth spilling from portholes. Here is an aeroplane crushed into the wall, cockpit a concertina of scrap. Here is an aeroplane on the stairs, wings raised in twisted supplication. Here is an aeroplane caught in the window, glass puncturing the fuselage. Here is an aeroplane on the roof, […]
London has been in uproar. A hung parliament, news broadcasters’ helicopters constantly buzzing over the rooftops, demonstrators with megaphones protesting about every known cause (and some unknown ones) in order to get themselves on screen, television journalists and officials virtually coming to blows during interviews, and politicians being followed by hordes of reporters as they […]
There is a new thing. A new kid on the block, hanging tough in his impractical baggy pants. A new broom sweeping the scum off the streets (and into a drain, like any responsible citizen should do). A new dawn on the horizon. A new dawn, a new day, a new life for me, and […]
Stanley Fetterbaum gazes at the full moon, a faint smile edging at the corners of his thin, habitually dissatisfied lips. He doesn’t take his eyes off it as he gingerly lies down on the tarmac, sighing with relief when he finds that the heat of the summer night has made the surface pleasantly warm to […]