Elegy for Debbie Carr
Not for someone I knew –Never knew her –Spoke to her, words a fewNever understood her. She was far apart from meIn her imaginationLiked things cosy, modern, TVAnd to let her hair down. Isn’t that the key?She lived her life like meSame world, different waysOf getting...
The Power of Silence
The Power of Silence “When the lips are closed, then the heart begins to speak.” Sufi saying Silence. Ah, if only you could get away from everything. Take a holiday, go walking in the mountains, cycle across a continent, if only... That's the big problem with our...
A Slice of Luck
A key turned in the lock. The next thing he knew his son had grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall. 'I knew it, Dad, you rat, I knew you couldn't change. What were you going to do, sell our secrets for some coins?' He squeezed Beetle's throat with...
Met in a Circle
The Great Cycle
Time leads on and things decay.A the same ‘time’ seasons begin and end. The day begins and ends.Life begins and ends. We are born, and with the breath…We die, and the breath leaves us. Is there a time before life?Is there a time after death? Time continues for those...
Writing Fantasy
Writing Fantasy. What is it to 'write' fantasy? Are we fantasy writers living in an imaginary world? Escapists? Refusing to accept a 'normal' reality? Yes, all these things. But to me, writing fantasy is as much a representation of imagination than anything else. And...
Gaia’s Song
The North Wind and the elementals some call sprites are real creatures. They bear their names, given by the imaginations of men with pride, and the task they have, to clean up the stale nothingness, with equal force. Their nature is against ours, if we think we are...
No Second Thought
It’s not for lack of trying But I’ve given in to dying. I’m 83, diseased and old Without the strength to catch a cold. On assisted suicide, my mind’s not split - Where do I sign up for it? If someone helps me finish off What birth started, with death as soft As...
God Goes to Bed
The future is predictable; it will be a lot like the past. God will watch over us in his giant bubble, exactly like the car of one of his representatives on earth. He will look at what has been created and say to his son, in hypothetical humour, while stroking his...
Every Time We Meet
What does it signify? That wave, a half glance, cool brush of the air with a white hand, the nervous smile behind lips roughened by time. What does it mean? that curt half-glance, a sign of love once taken, lived in. Revenge? A determined ‘I am all right’ desperate...