We’ll have to make our own supper, Fluffy. I don’t think mammy will be back soon, but I don’t know what we’ll make. Maybe mammy will be ok when she comes home. We’ll stay watching telly for a while so. It’s getting really late, Fluffy. There’s mammy in home now. She sounds not ok, I … Read more
‘A Glimpse of Gambian Life after Covid’ is from a novel ‘River Country’, by Emily Fowke.
“Everyone who knew Frank O’Hara knew him to be calm and pragmatic”.. no bad thing when .. “around him were figures in green uniforms and balaclavas” New fiction Beyond Use by
The Panopticon The panopticon is an architectural design for institutional buildings with an inbuilt system of control. Originated by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham it was later derided by historian Michel Foucoult as replacing fetters with hidden observers, thus creating a form of obedience that is based on information rather than force. … Read more
I cruise the Philosophy section of Hodges Figgis, watching, waiting. Like an old-fashioned spy I stand there on the third floor, book held up high for cover, my eyes glancing left then right over the top of it, solicitously. There are a lot of people around this afternoon; the rain has brought them in. For … Read more
“It’s been two days. We gotta to do something. It’s gonna go rotten.” “I know. I’m thinking.” “About what we talked about?” “What?” “Get on the Great Ocean Road. Out past Martyrs Bay.” “Yeah. I know the place. Near the twelve apostles.” “We were there with Jessie that time, remember?” “Yeah, I remember. Alright. … Read more
Richard Midwinter arrived early at the Garrick and on entering the theatre was struck by a large eighteenth century painting in the foyer of a man with his arm around a stone bust of Shakespeare. Quite a striking image, he thought. Midwinter, himself an actor, stood for a moment staring at the playwright, in the … Read more
He put on the yellow marigolds with some difficulty, while at the same time remembering something a wise Roman stoic had once written that went ‘dig inside yourself. Inside there is a well of goodness ready to gush at any moment, if you keep digging,’ and wondered if he had learned the line while studying … Read more
The magic place lay under a blanket of snow. On the ridge of the park he walked, a silhouette shifting, hunched and thoughtful under night. The lone trudging figure, wearing a long black wool coat and a brown fedora, moved carefully through the virgin white crunch towards the warren of streets by the Thames. He … Read more
Marina and I wait for a bus, and when it comes, we squeeze our way into it, blending in with a crowd that pushes and carries us like a wave into the sea. I say “squeeze”. This is literally what it feels like – something very familiar to me and, at the same time, almost … Read more
The big man tugged the brim of his hat and spoke gently to the camera as though a guest had newly arrived at his door. “Evenin’ folks. I’m here to tell you about my new picture, The Train Robbers, with a little lady you might have heard of by the name of Ann Margaret.” He … Read more
Dawn sun, distant mountains, red cliffs near, white clouds scattered, still world, until a breeze caresses the desert floor, and a scorpion awakes, resting on a piece of earth where no human ever stood. In this wilderness stands a horse, and sitting on the horse a rider. Tail swishing, standing still, a motionless man watching, … Read more
Saturday morning and Lil’Johnny was on his way to work on the Market. He walked along the long curve of street that ran along the bottom of the hill bordering the old marshes where now stood council estates. The tall towers stood like giants against the clear cold blue sky where the first rays of … Read more
It feels like centuries must have passed, but it is only decades. Years grow shorter as they multiply. Back then a year was long. Winters moved slowly through the seasons, bookending the boundless summers. I remember the newness of things then. When I was a boy, in my imagination, I could picture death, but it … Read more
Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.” – Genesis 18:20-21 They were an ancient and patient race. … Read more
I owe my life to a bullet that pierced my father’s skull. The time was July 1942, the place, Staraya Russa. But Staraya Russa is not the way to begin this story; it belongs in the second part of the middle, closer to the end. The beginning was in Moscow, a few years before the … Read more
It happens. After four years of marriage, I’m madly in love…just not with my husband. I feel like Diane Lane in Unfaithful, guilt-ridden, and giddy as I face my new reality. I am a terrible wife…but…I was becoming a fantastic girlfriend. You may deem me a horror, but the truth is never a fairytale. Only … Read more
The Gallego, Dos Lunas, sat on the low wall of the Mirador San Nicolas hurling abuse at the tourists that passed him by. ‘Idiotas!!’ He shouted with his hand waving about in the air, until his mind soothed and he returned to the comfort of his can of Vol Damm (at 8% it was the … Read more
It was just after opening time when Murphy walked into the bar. He wasn’t welcome at any time of the day really. The Fat Landlord’s lazy wife, a picture of early morning sourness probably let the nuisance in, but who cared? It certainly wasn’t me. She was a miserable, cold unfriendly woman affectionately known as … Read more
