It’s been a while since I’ve had a hallucination (I hate that word, but it simplifies things). Since I’ve had to explain “No, I’m not on drugs. Never have been.” Since I’ve had some people believe me and some people refuse to. Since I’ve sat and wondered: should I even be telling you this. Should
Monthly Archives: October 2007
I’ve spent the weekend hiding away in dark corners of dark rooms. With a brain full of tripans and warm bottles of fizzy water. I dreamt alot. Of dead things and secrets. Pulled part from a novel and the fever that’s not. It’s cold and I’m awake because I need to sleep tonight. Otherwise I
Mertsie-Beth looks after her husband’s invalid mother. When she’s not working at the Med Supply or getting her hair done up like Jackie O or doing the hundred other things she thinks up to do to keep from tending to an octogenarian’s bed sores. Eddie says she drugs the old lady with benadryl and pays
He fell. Down the mountain. The one he climbed. For roots. His wife is in the hospital. And when she isn’t, she’s not getting better. His brother … cancer. They’re not thinking about it. Not gonna let it bother them. But it does. It must. His daughter is being biopsied. For the thing that took
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
The day before I left home Blue took me out to lunch – his favorite mom-and-pop on a wind-about road in the hills of McDowell County. He told me to stay warm. To always remember him. And to go see the White Cliffs of Dover – the most beautiful place in the world, even when
My mother bought me lingerie and candles for my birthday. “Because I want a grandbaby. Buffy!” “You know, you have six already. Just because grandma has 27…doesn’t mean you have to.” She keeps saying my biological clock is ticking. Even posted it on a message board once because I got snarky and said she didn’t
WHO: Andrew Motion, Paul Abbott, Roddy Doyle, Carol Ann Duffy, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jackie Kay, Galway Kinnell, Rose Tremain, Gerard Woodward. Comma, Route, Templar, Suitcase, Transmission and Matter… WHAT: The Second Annual Manchester Literature Festival WHEN: 4 October – 17 October WHERE: John Rylands, Cornerhouse, The Whitworth Art Gallery, Central Library, Library Theatre, Manchester Museum,
One day I grew into it. Loving God more than my grandfather. But when I was four I didn’t know how. Only that I should. In Sunday school we sang “He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands”. I pretended to understand the underlying spiritual metaphor, quoted all the necessary scripture and drew and coloured
