Without Lips

The fabric’s stale and hot with breath, slightly damp and beginning to chafe, but alluring with its pattern of pink, full-petalled and sensitive to touch. The eyes do it, dark depths above the matching mask. In a moment of pandemic madness they come together, flower on flower, blossom into a kiss without lips, and he […]

Almost (a love story)

almost burned her fingers as she watched a flame consume a match almost to its end almost cried at the pain that didn’t come but the tears were welcome anyway almost fell in love with the man who struck the match that lit her (almost) last cigarette almost kissed him on the lips before the […]

Rediscovering the Night

Lying smug and snug in the arms of the countryside, I can’t recall the sound of the city’s background song, but hope, in this shutdown pandemic, that worldwide respect spreads like galaxies of stars for the long- forgotten night noises: the whirring wings of geese returning and the owls’ reviewing the day in the trees. […]

Unblurring the View

Days blur into each other. The view from the window seems to stay the same: green leaves pattern blue sky, occasionally a cloud drifts or a helicopter murmurs by, a tractor trundles down a lane, sometime later it returns again. A knock at the door relieves the mundane Monday repetition, a gloved delivery with distance […]

A Way Back to the Garden

In the garden she was lovingly cultivating, Mother Nature stood back. The plants were doing well, flourishing even, producing flowers and fruit of every colour, even some she hadn’t invented yet – they were going it alone. Birds and insects carried pollen from one part of the garden to another, cross-pollinating, creating forest and jungle, […]

What happened to the snow?

What happened to winter snow, hoary patterns on windows, frozen ponds to skate on, icicles hanging from the gutter? Sun worshippers may think it doesn’t matter and wonder why we mutter at unseasonal weather, unconcerned that snowdrops and daffodils bloom early, blackthorn roots are purply and willow tops froth with yellowy green. Is it the […]