< 1 mn read In the warmest December of their long history he gave her a sledge as red as Christmas itself it waited in the hallway along with the snowballing gloves and the sleet defying hat for the snow that never came. It shone through a January of drizzle through February’s fog until the snowdrops pushed out their […]
< 1 mn read She who was once his beautiful young wife looks out at the flat northern sky, the vertical rise of industrial smoke, a broken scarecrow in a fallow field, a solitary magpie on a tree stump, the rusted creaking garden gate, empty snail shells along the path, a fine layer of dust along the window sill […]
< 1 mn read A life is so short When you consider the age Of the temples and cathedrals Built with the faith and old blood of men Who lived short lives and then died In the name of their Gods and their Gods immortality Consider the age of that gold Buddha It is older than the crippled tree […]
6 mn read Sophie Parkin questions remarkable photographer, John Claridge who was born in Plaistow. His new book East End shows a part of London that we have forgotten but he has not.
< 1 mn read This myth you make now, this soup of old bones, stretches like a necklace of islands strung out over a watery grave, a garland of ancestors, begging, pleading, healing. And what you do now cascades up and down your family line and stems an evolutionary tide that washed up waves of curses and vows, which […]
< 1 mn read There are disadvantages, My lack of Algebra, But how you could do the maths. When adding up all this used time, Equations disappear like a boy-racer on the run Sums dawdle and toddle in a toyshop rhyme. I would like to express some time as – A = X 1 million. Other times don‘t deserve […]
< 1 mn read He is used to autonomy and has forgotten the comfort or anguish of joint decisions. He is master of his domain and need not compromise indoors. His disorder is his own as is his procrastination. Sometimes he wakes up during the night and is aware of the space in the bed. When someone else shows […]
< 1 mn read Fruits plucked in haste when ripe enough to eat Are fresh and firm and tolerably sweet But look again and higher up you’ll see Maturer fruit still hanging on the tree. Come connoisseur, this mellow one’s for you Not tang and tart and biting back Nor am I overdue But come to my fruition – […]
