Physio Climbing the hill to work got harder. The damp air made me cough to a stop and within hours I was wired up in hospital. My ribs locked. Two years later I was on the physio’s couch attracting a crowd of students. ‘This condition is normally seen in pregnant women.’ I felt like I was being pulled apart like a stewed chicken. Fingers … Continue reading A poem by Paul Bavister
French Lessons I started talking to the cats in French today, because the silence in the house is astonishing. Not like the gone-out-back-soon quiet of before but something that’s yellow and flat and has no doors in it. And your keys are gone from the shelf in the hall, the fridge has begun to look baleful; its shelves pulse vacancy. Of course it rained … Continue reading Two poems by Claire Dyer
Giving Up Mirrors Like giving up the time (take off your watch, unplug the glowing digits, let the chiming clock run down to silent) there will be things that catch you out. The whole world turns to glass and chrome, plays tricks with darkened screens, with windows day and night, with water. You will be tempted. … Continue reading ‘Giving up Mirrors’ by Susan Utting
