We stood by a field, watched waves of leafy greenness rolling, wind-blown and whispering, born from earth and sky. We stood and breathed the scent of stiff-stalked oats flourishing and bearing flavoursome, nourishing crisp-cased seeds. I held your hand on that summer walk, a slightly calloused hand normally used to work, sometimes to cook and […]
Tag: Poets and Storytellers United
Coffee Morning with the Girls
I’ve been in Coffee Cup Cake for an hour, listening to them babbling on about their success as Internet influencers, the perils of public transport for mothers with buggies on their way to drop of their little darlings at the childminder’s, and date nights with their partners, “thank God for babysitters and grandparents!” Not one […]
The Ghost Returns
I gave up following little footprints in the dust long ago. I was bored with finding them on the table, wooden floor and stairs, invisible to everyone but me. I’d started to feel sick each time I felt her fingers flick and pinch my arms or stroke my cheek, and moved to the other side […]
Silent Sob
I have a poem in this month’s issue of Visual Verse and, as ever, I’m in great company, including Misky Braendeholm, Jane Dougherty and Kerfe Roig. This month, writers have been inspired by a powerful sepia-toned image by Gambian-British photographer Khadija Saye, whose work was exhibited in the Diaspora Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in […]
After the Virus
Megan closed the Chat Window, replacing it with the World Window, and sighed. The daily chat with her mother was becoming a chore and she felt ashamed to feel that way. None of her Friends seemed to have a problem with their mothers, but then hers had been much older when she ‘gave birth’. There […]
To Unravel a Maypole
From his hiding place behind the throne, Will watched until every villager had dropped off to sleep, including the May Queen and her attendants. Silence fell like a curtain on a theatrical performance. He wasn’t sure what to do: stay and keep watch over Willa’s sleeping neighbours or return to the cottage to help her. […]
Chalk Marks, Bears and What Lay Beneath
When I was a child the pavementwas a canvas, a joyful defacement:I made colourful chalk marks on the grey,a street artist, until the rain cameand washed them away.Hopscotch boxes led my feetacross the concreteand cracks warned of bearswaiting to eat meif I didn’t stay in the squares.I was curious about what laybeneath the heavy grey;grass […]
The Wrong Daisies
Will’s mouth gaped. What had just happened? Willa used her wand to stir the drops of potion that remained in the cauldron. Everything was as it should be: she could see tiny pieces of daisy petals, willow bark, nettle leaf and yellow buttercup pollen. She ran to the door to look at the forest of […]
Unexpected
Immersed in a poem, I was a lovelorn mermaid enchanted by vampire squid in fluorescent coral glades. Raised from the deep by the ring of the telephone, I looked out at the garden, dappled green and overgrown. I spotted it suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, the unexpected flash of an electric blue […]
Daisies Everywhere
The villagers were not surprised when the stone goblin disappeared from beneath the willow tree, or when Will moved in with Willa. What might have bothered them was that he was less than half her size, although his face looked older. Willa was quick to point it out when she released him from the weather […]
writing in north norfolk 