Journal
Articles
The work
The contours of Abe’s move were becoming apparent, though I still wasn’t too concerned. ‘We,’ I said, evenly. Abe had never parented in his life. He wasn’t going to start now. He’d sacrificed six children on the altar of his art – and unlike the mothers of those children, I understood why: a self couldn’t be divided. It couldn’t be poured into anything but the work.
Abe watched me with greedy expectation. I was surprised that he’d chosen this tactic to wound me. The guilt of refusing a needy four-year-old would hurt a little: I wasn’t heartless. It would probably feel much the same as witnessing Isabelle’s pain. But it wasn’t going to hurt a lot.
Tawny child
Carefully, Morgan loosened the fabric. The crying increased in volume. Eventually, the small dark head of a bawling, tawny child emerged into the clear light. Morgan looked at the child with her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed, as if she were considering an heirloom of unknown value. Hans took the envelope from the fingers of the man in the blue suit and tore the gold seal. Inside were five crisp, dry banknotes. The man in the blue suit told them that such payments would be forthcoming every month, and that the child’s name was Many-gift in the local dialect, but they were to refer to him as Albert and raise him as their own.
The window
One dinner, in the midst of playing with Seb in the reflection, Rudi laughing and squealing away, there came the distinct burst of a sob. We stopped in our tracks, looking around at each other in confusion until we located the downturned whimpering in Tim’s eyes and mouth. What is it? I asked, putting my hand on his shoulder. He turned and buried his face into my neck. What is it? I repeated. I don’t like them, he moaned, his hand pointing towards the window.
Pyjama Man
Though he lives in a rundown unit above a busy intersection, the pyjama man imagines that the sounds of the traffic are the...
Kale
In her arms she cradles the kale, knowing these are precious days. She stares down lovingly at the kale, who...
Palio De Siena
In the Tuscan city of Siena for seven hundred years this annual race has run to settle rivalries between citizens of its seventeen...
Baba
A friend suggests a psychologist, but my grandmother was a house witch, her mother the thirteenth child of the thirteenth...
upstart crowe
I was reading Shakespeare on my phone & then this rose started blooming in front of me as...
Moonshot
in the tenth set he sent the tennis ball on an interstellar galaxy quest, a sudden outburst which seemingly served no...
The trouble with eternity
I had a dream about the afterlife: I died quite unexpectedly Although it is, of course, to be expected, And I materialised...
Moon man
After Elizabeth Venn He circles the room five times, refusing to believe he’s resistible. I tell myself I won’t tilt for his...
Witchy women
The ’90s saw a trend of witchy, occult or otherwise supernatural women on TV. Sabrina was joined by Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, gracing our screens with characters who took control using abilities unknown to man – and men. These shows formed part of the girl (magic) power movement.
