< 1 mn read A problematical bed to fill was how she put it, which left a lot of scope to wonder how the problem came about and when. In her faded Greenham Common T-shirt and cut-offs, she looked too jaunty for sudden widowhood; too down-at-heel to be on the pull, though her breasts were nicely presented. She didn’t […]
7 mn read There’s something about starting a new pursuit and passion when you’re older. It’s stimulating in a different way. I began writing poetry when I was 55 ten years ago..
< 1 mn read I’m not just any maiden lounging in the millefleurs, there to bait the trap. On my canvas, invisible to the innocent, fish knives gleam, wait to scale your silver, crack open your heart. Listen; there are rumours of drowning by metaphor: the flicker of dance, the aspiration of flight, the whale-bone squeeze that robs breath, […]
< 1 mn read It’s goodbye to the everyday purpose slowly draining away like the morning mugs I rinse in the sink My Outlook suddenly feels much brighter appointments and appraisals recruitment and risk assessment scheduled for binning alongside brainstorming A final collection and card false smiles we will miss you so much do keep in touch don’t forget […]
< 1 mn read I buy a new bra laced with dahlias. Calvin Klein. Dress is Indian embroidered olive green silk. Shepherd’s Bush Market. Candelabras are cheaply ornate. Car boot. Oh Lord, teeth have been savaged. Dental hygienist. Like a slow moving volcano. My sixtieth. Pause for thoughts about gifts. Unwanted. Suggest pies on laps as they drive to […]
< 1 mn read Napoleon planted these pines, the soil is sandy but not a beach. I want to lie down, stare upwards like a child who hasn’t had enough clouds. The watery landscape keeps me upright. On cherche les oiseaux, mais on n’entend que les chants. The sky deceives itself. We talk (my French friends and I) about […]
3 mn read On August 11th, I took a picture of my dog’s paw, resting gently in the cup of my hand. Not a work of art, photography not being a thing I’m particularly good at. It caught a little sweetness though. Without me trying, a haiku arose to sit beside it. I posted them on Facebook. The […]
< 1 mn read I am not young. This is a strange thing. I surprise the mirror, remind myself, I am not young. But I am not convinced. I am young, I say to myself. I argue without saying anything. And then I see someone my age wearing something I might have worn twenty years ago and I think […]
< 1 mn read i.m. Sarah’s mum Stella hailed from startleland, uneven terrain was welcomed. She’d entertain with the intimate habits of the stag beetle, probe my knowledge of ‘Cargador de Flores’ by Diego Rivera, demand to be spoken to in French. La vedette made the everyday into theatre. Did I mention the Lalique obsession and the birdsong clock? […]
< 1 mn read When the statue she’d inhabited in those fours years embraced the thought that dancing was a possibility, she understood, at last, that she had never loved him and she left. As the years passed flowers had grown from her lichen, and the folds of her concrete robes had softened to a swing. Over this coffee […]
