Archive for July, 2008

A horror story originally published in “Not for Bedtime” (Infinity Junction).  Wallpaper can’t grow roses, can it? Someone Else’s Wallpaper “I swear I can smell roses,” Charlotte muttered to herself, but as she looked round the room the only roses she could see were crowded on the wallpaper climbing around a green trellis design. A […]


Tiger

10Jul08

Inspired by a photo that accompanied an obituary of Emma Humphreys.  Published in Let’s Shout About It, an anthology to raise funds for support services for survivors of sexual abuse, and on ABCTales.com.   Tiger (from a photo accompanying Emma Humphreys’ obituary) Emma called you Tiger: a big name for a little cat. Her case […]


Triggered by a poem I read in a magazine.  I modestly thought I could make a more imaginative treatment of the themes it raised.  I got carried away.  Published in Fire magazine.   Seven Traducements of a Stolen Poem (1) for Ryan Robbins Teacher don’t know our word for praise. She thinks it’s wicked. She […]


Julie

10Jul08

“A biography in 18 lines”, featured on a bookmark to celebrate National Poetry Day by Leicester and Leicestershire Libraries.   Julie Wore kitten-heeled boots skin-tight jeans, studded belt and a leather jacket, feather-cut blonde hair with heavy kohl and mascara to age her blue eyes. Huddles on a park bench at midnight. There’s a gap […]


Jean Rhys, best known for “Wide Sargasso Sea”, wrote about women in the 1920s and 1930s, this poem tries the capture the spirit of some of her novels.  Originally published in Exit 21: Poems Selected by Ian McMillan.   Good Morning Midnight (after Jean Rhys) This hostel room is bare. The remaining wallpaper, wallflower-like, refuses […]


Sitting in the lobby of Hotel Leningrad (in 1996) waiting for a friend led to an offer of free champagne… too good to be true?  Originally published in The Journal of Contemporary Anglo-Scandinavian Poetry.  Also included in “Yellow Torchlight and the Blues”.   Free Champagne in St Petersburg In the lobby waiting for Amanda, while […]


After the Gig

10Jul08

Originally published in the Featured Poet section of Poetry Monthly.   After the Gig I – The Fan He stands, charcoal grey pinstriped suit still immaculate although the white shirt cuffs are now grubby, amongst feedback and roadies; isolated in imposed idleness. Long, bony fingers push jet black hair from his mask-like face, not sure […]


Soft Focus

10Jul08

A horror story: Sarah’s idea of doctoring her cheating lover’s contact lenses so he can see her rival as she really is doesn’t go to plan.  Originally published in Unhinged.   Soft Focus Sarah put the radio on so that she didn’t have to focus on her own thoughts.  She cursed, regreting telling Nick about […]


Restoration

10Jul08

A regal ghost haunts Sudeley Castle as narrated by a Victorian teenager.  Won runner-up Prize in Writing Magazine’s Annual Ghost Story Competition.  Originally published in The Book of the Dead. Restoration I wish Katherine Parr had been buried with her first husband in the Royal Vault at Windsor, instead of at Sudeley Castle, where my […]


Chaff

08Jul08

A horror story, originally published in The Dream Zone #8.   Chaff I saw St John the Baptist again today.  Can in hand, he was weaving down Grafton Street, a pocket of silence in the Babel of languages around him.  As he walked, the tourists parted to left and right, their glances looking through him, […]



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