Cherrypicked stories
WE WALK IN SHADOWS
that swell with sunset passing as seasons stack one above another-- celestial images scudding by passing summers and always cars whistling along at...
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- 5 comments
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- 1759 reads
I Called Z Passably Pretty
And she was unhappy about it. I am either pretty, or beautiful, your choice. But you've always called me the latter, And so with you, in the sanctity...
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- 8 comments
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- 2179 reads
A Period of Quarantine (after Stevie Smith)
I’m radio active. It’s for my thyroid, you see. They say it’ll work wonders. That those things will disappear. The sweats, palpitations. The madness...
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- 1 comment
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- 585 reads
Distance
Thoughts on changing times
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- 26 comments
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- 9589 reads
The five doorways
Three tales …
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- 9 comments
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- 2856 reads
Shoebox Heart
We boys sat round a flip-topped box fondling reverently ancient cardboard and new plastic. Our imaginations fired, lust and the first flush of desire...
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- 2 comments
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- 1288 reads
going extinct
going extinct woken most mornings by man-made growling i struggle to understand what kind of man would put a fat exhaust on a fiat panda well done...
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- 5 comments
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- 1627 reads
Senses
Public domain image: An allegory of five senses - Still life by Peter Claesz -1623
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- 4 comments
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- 1535 reads
Flying Saucer (ii) Scotland
"Scotland," said Pete. He phoned me at my parents house. It was a Tuesday afternoon and I happened to be in. "Scotland?" "Scotland." "What about...
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- 4 comments
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- 1459 reads
Flying Saucer (i) The Journey
If you only read the mainstream press you'd hardly have any idea there was anything going on, bar the odd high-profile tale of strange lights over...
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- 7 comments
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- 2296 reads
Going Out For Cigarettes
We waited for details throughout the night. We ate toast and jam, sipped instant coffee. Phones ran out of credit. Those moments defined us. Danny...
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- 3 comments
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- 1303 reads
Balmerino Abbey Day
Around the river, walking the water lanes from where the car was left (better to tread lightly down to the remains of the monastery). All that...
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- 2 comments
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- 994 reads
Along a Roman Road
Image:
I’m travelling to Lexhane, along a Roman Road; Where twinkl’d glass beckons me through hidden river fords. To a pond that softly brooks and whispers...
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- 3 comments
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- 1917 reads
Hot sad nights
We don't sleep at night anymore.. It's too hard, like sitting an exam you haven't revised for or your first day as a chef when you lied on your CV...
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- 1 comment
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- 616 reads
Aftermath
I don’t associate cats with beaches. Dogs, yes, flappy ears and flappy paws, chasing balls and sticks, challenging the waves to a duel. But a...
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- 21 comments
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- 8211 reads
Franz Kafka wants you to be an indestructible superhero! (2)
Includes quotes from: The Zurau Aphorisms - Franz Kafka The Castle - Franz Kafka Pic - Wikimedia commons
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- 8 comments
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- 2660 reads
Franz Kafka wants you to be an indestructible superhero! (1)
Includes quotes from: The Zurau Aphorisms - Franz Kafka The Castle - Franz Kafka Pic - Wikimedia commons
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- 1 comment
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- 1034 reads
The Return (Part 2 of 2)
I wake up to a crisp dawn. I wake up beside the window I slept beside in childhood. My old room. My old wallpaper. There’s a rip in the carpet just...
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- 4 comments
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- 1731 reads
The Return (Part 1 of 2)
They don’t want me back there. This much I know. This much I’m expecting. There’s nobody there who’ll be glad to see me. And, well, I don’t know if I...
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- 7 comments
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- 2452 reads
iGrasshopper
iGrasshopper STRENGTH OF MIND AND BODY in the grave of your bed we chat like strangers uncomfortable with our own skin soon the comedown will begin...
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- 2 comments
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- 746 reads
Crackle and Hum
Febrile, this heat. A grass hut, my workplace. Tied like a cauldron over the charcoals. Droning flies fill the air: 'Can I help you?' 'Thanks for...
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- 2 comments
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- 882 reads
Folk tale
She was cold and she was tired She'd seen it all and she'd walked for miles in those shoes But everybody looked right through her Afraid that they...
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- 4 comments
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- 1574 reads
From a troopship, July 1945
The place – he’s in a troopship on the way; the why? long journey home, he fills each day recalling memories of years abroad in war, his toil...
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- 12 comments
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- 3563 reads
Auld Man
Auld Man, I trouble you with remembrance, now you’re sixty years dead. Green shillings on eyes have been robbed by otherworld rogues from where we...
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- 5 comments
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- 1380 reads
Hot Diggity Dog! A Craven Danger Mystery
“Please to bask in the glory of my extraordinary efforts, my friend!” “What the heck is that guy in a sweat about, Betty?” “He wants you to buy one...
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- 7 comments
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- 2501 reads
Omar's Diary for Sunday 8th July 2018
Dressage - Royal Acot - Glorious Goodwood - Jay Rayner - Servant Trump - Free Trade - Football Quite a few of you already linked to Lady and Man...
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- 3 comments
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- 1949 reads
Crystalised Sky
From the moment I met you, I did not know what to do. We are miles apart in many ways. You are younger by 15 years. From a country I know very little...
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- 5 comments
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- 2792 reads
Time, people and things
Taking stock
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- 7 comments
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- 1935 reads
Mad dogs and sun hats
A few weeks ago whilst on a work trip to London I found myself short of time in an area unfamiliar to me. I’d planned to catch a bus but anxious not...
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- 9 comments
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- 4070 reads
Beware the Shadows
An insider's view of the city...
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- 1 comment
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- 615 reads
Bethzatha (in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate)
Half-cowled faces are lost in the crowds where the street curves away from sunny archways. Here, in these five porticos I feed on hope in the rag-...
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- 1 comment
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- 953 reads
Intelligence
I was listening to a podcast about the Psychological study of intelligence at the time, on my bike. Joel spent all Saturday afternoon fixing it for £...
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- 4 comments
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- 1118 reads
Nine
Something I whipped up for the Inspiration Point- a prose poem, nine lines, nine words each.
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- 2 comments
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- 1009 reads
Reality Has a Face
Walked the beat for years before the shooting a mixed up affair and now a new role a mall cop – a private firm helped me be alive again. I thought he...
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- 2 comments
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- 1188 reads
Froglet Nonet
Tadpoles move in green language, fluid commas wriggle between voiceless speech marks, quiet apostrophes, wordless as the mermaid who swapped her...
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- 11 comments
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- 3721 reads
People make all the difference
Breeze blows in from the balcony
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- 4 comments
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- 1479 reads
Pah
They sat on a cushion. The cushion was small and round and a pale orange hue. It was perched on top of a mountain, which was surrounded by a plane of...
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- 2 comments
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- 1178 reads
Changing history
Proposed rewrite of part 17 and closing scene of "Boatman's Tale"
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- 5 comments
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- 1748 reads
Remnants
It was pennies in a jar, odd nails and pieces of copper wires strew inside a tool box. The comical drawing with the block lettered caption that he’d...
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- 11 comments
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- 3280 reads
Annunciation Revisited
Unfamiliar and unsung, incredible arrives on humming wing Announced with a slow beat, "With God, nothing is impossible ” Substance from a lonely...
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- 2 comments
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- 1126 reads