He had no sense of humour, she had no mercy: in a world of beauty they managed to find one another and set about making little oppressors. But what they didn’t understand is: the tighter you hold them, the further children range. And so (all by accident) they raised secret artists and comedians. (2012)  <

(First posted on October 26, 2010) The four men burst in at the door of a homestead and demand the drug “Sugars” – a bewildered man says that he doesn’t have what they are looking for, and they kill him and all of his.  Except for one 18-year-old who escapes, but they track him down […]

Who really knows, who can tellHow many will die from a poisoned well? When courting bitterness be well awareThat the corpse on one’s back will be rotting there And the hatred without will seep to within,No matter how stubborn, or how thick the skin.      (2007)

Found Sherman Alexi’s website yesterday – spent an hour reading everything.  Maintained a pose because I was at the office and had to choke back the tears. Wanted to write him a letter, but the site was adamant about protecting his time and privacy. Was stunned by the short autobiography – so much that I […]

The important-looking official and I round a corner in the city at the same time – I step carefully around the pigeons, but she frightens them clattering into the air with the sharp clip of her official heels. She smiles because the pigeons are not afraid of me, but they are obviously afraid of her. […]

You have no idea of what my eyes have seen My days and dreams being built out of air and prayer, watching my road appear across the chasm before me, one paving stone at a time. From the earliest age I had no guarantees, no nets, no free admission to a secure future. My life […]

She spent the whole week mulling over the idea of casual cruelty – the kind of thoughtless crap that people say to other people. Halfway through the week she got introspective, started wondering if she wasn’t just too damned oversensitive. But running over the words again, it was hard to imagine that anyone else wouldn’t […]

(Written in September 2008) I put off writing the whole weekend because I had too much to say, when I tried to put it into words, they just upped and wriggled away off the page. I tried speaking about it – I thought that saying it aloud would clarify my feelings, and separate the crowd […]

March 2007: It seems, in reality, I am just an aesthete, Too tightly wrapped in troublesome meat, Spend most of my time just dousing the fires Of arcane earthy needs and whining desires.

How many times has it happened that two people, shored up in their separate hurts like stony-walled castles, find themselves thrown together, and they say: “Oh, I don’t believe in love” “No-one can breach MY high walls” “Hah, I’ll never fall for THAT again” Only to find that suddenly the space between them is gone, […]