Letter to the Editor

Yesterday was the funeral of my brother’s wife who passed away last month. Her death was especially tragic as she had struggled to find her place in the world and was finally beginning to build a life here in the UK. I wrote this poem in her memory and in the hope that it gives […]

A Thank You

I’d just like to say thank you to all the people who have visited my site recently. It’s been a tough couple of months for a number of reasons and every like and follow means a lot and encourages me to keep going. I’m busy working on a non-fiction submission about Dartmoor and have some […]

Brutal Winds

There is no rhyme or reason, life is changeable like the seasons. For we are all just stalks, swaying helplessly in the breeze, the wind our brutal master.

White Painted Walls

There was a spider on the wall of Dad’s bedroom. It was about the size of a grape, but that was big enough. Can you get rid of it, I asked. Dad just smiled his lazy smile, not even looking away from the television. The next day, there were three or four of them, larger […]

If Only You Could See Me Now

If only you could have seen her, wrapped like fish and chips in a muslin cloth. If only you could have seen them, top of the division, the amphitheatre turned red with shirts and scarves. If only you could see my woodwork, fuelled by the memory of your steady arms as you pruned back the […]

Across the Conveyor

I could have picked another aisle, but his was about to free up. It’s not only that, though. Today, I could do with talking to someone and he likes to talk. As I get loading, he tells me there’s been a troublesome customer. Took three security guards to get him out. He couldn’t take it […]

Fallen Leaf

The time had come. The Great Leaving, we called it. Something of a sense of humour, I suppose. The Wind of Destiny struck and severed my umbilical cord from Mother Tree. I tumbled, head over heels, into the autumn sunshine that had been hidden behind concrete since my beginning. My flight was brief. I landed […]

Amalgamated Colours

As forces clashed, their voices roared, melding into a single cacophony. Flags became entangled and founding principles blurred so that they were no longer distinguishable.

Money Over Matter

For a brief time, the bus stopped. Infection was a roadblock, profit put on hold while life support took its place. But this was only temporary, a handwritten note pasted over that familiar recipe of make more, take more. Capital needed a vaccine, an intervention, injection, funnel it out to tax havens like it’s an […]

Cause for celebration

As seen on CafeLit. The man waits with tender anticipation, his palms face down on the table. He wears a faint smile at the thought of what is to come but also at how things have come to be, the days, the years, turning everything mellow like a softening fruit. A smell wafts in from […]