Autumn was already underway. Every morning was misty; sometimes fog smothered the landscape, russet and brown leaves underfoot the only splashes of colour until almost midday. With hardly any sun, everything was rinsed out and drooped like yesterday’s laundry on the washing line. Night fell far too early; end of school blended into bedtime, with […]
Category: Prose
Never the Bride
Breda stands in a sumptuous hotel room, an ivory-coloured wedding dress pressed against her body like a lover. It is so full of frill and flounce that it feels alive, and the iridescent image swims through a mirror that flows and reflects her pale face with its newly-plucked brows and made-up eyes. There are flowers […]
Casting On
My grandmother taught me the art of patience, guiding awkward childish fingers to draw a loop around a needle, keep going until too-tight, sweat-soaked wool became a square. Knit was the basic stitch, purl soon followed as we explored more complicated structures, more colourful and different designs until, together, we conjured up a rainbow from […]
The Aroma of Dark Dreams
Without even a chink of light, I can find my way around your room to your bedside, drawn by your nightmares, the way they curl out of the open window and drift on the thermals of a summer night. I am the creature who smells your darkest thoughts, moving like a jaguar in the shadows. […]
Buzzard
It was one of those days when all I wanted to do was walk until my legs ached, the best way to clear my head of the pressures and worries that weighed it down. Solitude and fresh air were the only remedy, even on an exceptionally hot June day. I tugged on my straw hat, […]
Her First Spell
Isadora’s mother grasps her hands and smiles at her. ‘I know this is your first time, but everyone in the coven has been there, and we are here to support you’. Isadora looks around the circle, nods, picks up a handful of herbs and throws them into the cauldron. As she stirs, she recites under […]
Her Last Poem
The poet sits at her desk, chewing the end of a pen, mulling over her latest collection. Over the years, she has had some success with pamphlets and anthologies, but time has not been kind to her, and her sight is rapidly failing. This does not mean that she is considering giving up writing altogether, […]
Back from the Front
The war was over and railway stations in London were flooded with soldiers: the walking wounded, shell shocked and confused. After years in the trenches, it was commonplace to see young men dazzled by gas lights or cringing at a blast of steam from a train. I have waited every day, desperate to catch a […]
Not Forgotten
Mum sat in the twilight of her room, staring ahead, arthritic fingers twisted around themselves, trembling, lips moving but emitting no sound. ‘Hello Mum!’ I tried to be cheerful but there was no response, and I couldn’t read her expression in the gloom, so I switched on the standard lamp that stood next to her […]
Earth To Earth
It had all been a terrible mistake, getting involved with a man like Gary, but Mona was attracted to his earthiness, his dark, brooding looks, and his quietness. Most of the men she had known were uncomfortable with silence and had to fill it with inane chat, boasting and mansplaining. But Gary was different to […]
writing in north norfolk 