The End of Prophecy

The events of December 21st 2012 are sure to signal an end to the phenomenon known as ‘prophecy’. ‘Cos nothing happened. Zip. Kaput. Zero. Nul points. Followers of ‘prophecy’ gathered in their hordes around ancient temples, in city centres, on beaches and in public...

The Traveller, the Donkey and the Sage

Once upon a time, in a dry and dusty land there lived a traveller, who had a donkey. Now the traveller went here and there, from town to village, village to town, buying and selling things. Wood, pots and pans, books, papers: all went on the donkey’s back and off they...

Behemoth

It moves slowly, has no languagestronger than ours, so it waits.Thoughts fill its mindit allows them inand ponders their significance,weighs every utterance,weighs each idea as if itwere heavy, had the wholehistory of thought,the toils of its ancestorsbehind it. it...

On Suicide

Alive versus deadNot a choice you want to makeNot a choice you’re givenSometimes a choice you take. When alive becomes lessWhen death becomes an optionYou reach for the knife, the pillWith shadowless stain of will. Your decision is cleanIt’s one you’re affordedNo...

Swifts

Are so talked aboutbecause we cannot see them. Onlytheir shadows, the place where they have beenis recognised, so that one says’Look, a swift!’, wrongly placingintense generations of birdsculled from the wrecks of dinosaursin any one place at one time....