With a serpentine slither her skirt snaked sideways, the silk slid along her thighs. She hissed a sigh, her throat exposed and opened wide her unblinking eyes. He was halted, hypnotised; She sprang and caught him in his surprise.
My cousin’s pet snake hypnotised me: a plump slinking coil under false light tucked unblinking below small bushy plants. It moved with slow smooth ease, effortless: it mysteriously swam on the ground. An unwordly worm, an exotic tube; a sample proving jungles exist; I stared for hours, mesmerised, dismissed when, tired of me, it hissed. [...]
I found a shamrock crushed against my sister’s walking boot; She left the left one in the hallway, when we got back from picking fruit. She said she didn’t care about such a stupid superstitious thing, She said that I could keep it, good and bad luck don’t mean anything. My grandmama – whose fruit [...]
Buy me gumboots and plait my hair And let me pretend I’m nine. End my duties with the end of spring: Let me wallow in lengthy summertime. Set aside our grownup duties And let’s play at being free; We’ll run away from debts and fights, Hide from everything obligatory. But then, there’s some damn good [...]
And when you left you smashed the herbs from the tiny pots that lined the steps. You kicked them over and crushed them down and swore at the leafy, dirty mess. The peppermint smell, reproachful and bold, stopped me as I tried to follow; my tears frozen, my attention snagged; the scent filling where I [...]
Satan owes me money, And the fairies haunt my yard; My left neighbour is a gargoyle, With a Citroen and a Mastercard. Satan owes me money, And a centaur mows my lawn; And I buy my weekly fruit and veg From a gruff-voiced leprechaun. There was a brawl the other night, Among the pixies and [...]
Get out of my way, for I’ve got plans! And visions for how the world should be. I’ve got things to make and things to sort; And I can see everywhere the world needs me. Since nobody else is going to start, Stand aside: I’ve got shit to do. I can see just how it [...]
May your clothes be always comfortable May your shoes be free of holes; May you always have enough wineglasses, May you never run short of bowls. May your veggie garden never wilt, May your toilet be never blocked; May your windows be never smashed and cracked; May you never leave the door unlocked. May your [...]
My grandmother, it transpired, Was from an egg: was a spider. And so, when silky thoughts inspired, Would hide behind the room divider To privately coil her glorious strands, and spin the cords into fine light thread; Then, using only her own eight hands, Would work all night, well past bed; So in the morning, [...]
The day bleached from heat burnt dry into a scratching papery afternoon. Old and yellow, a parchment sunset and air that chokes. Without announcement, coolness trickles, quiet-quick through an open window; tickles bristling skin and makes it sweet and new. The sun dries out and dusk creeps coolly in.
