“It is not a number, Claire!”
“Of course it’s a number. It’s the biggest number! Like a really big 8!”
“It’s a concept, Claire!”
“You’re a concept!”
“Claire doesn’t know what a concept is, Tina.”
“I do. And you’re both concepts!”
“What about me?”
“You’re worse than a concept, Daniel! You’re a notion!”
_________
Notes:
1. Written on December 31st, 2022
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#1: The Spider
scuttling across ceilings
spitting at me
all my splendid children
demand to be free
#2: The Cat
only in sleep
are we truly ourselves
and no one is themself
more often than me
#3: A Crow
you cannot
you will not
ever
scare
me
#4: David
My beard is like a tangled bush
filled with cobwebs
and bees
rotting fruit
and sparrow’s nests
crisp packets, carrier bags
and old coke cans
turned pink over time
by rain
and sun
#5: The Ghost In The Well
I am no longer alive
and you are not yet dead
but give it time
and we’ll be together again
__________
Notes:
1. The Spider was written on May 20th, 2022
2. The Cat was written on June 4th, 2022
3. A Crow was written on January 3rd, 2023
4. David was written on May 10th, 2022
5. The Ghost In The Well was written on November 11th, 2022
1.
“What’s that?”
“It looks like some slugs.”
“Dead slugs.”
“It’s liquorice. It’s nice.”
“Urgh! It’s not nice, Nanny!”
“It’s not nice at all.”
“It tastes like slugs.”
“Live slugs.”
2.
“This stuff tastes like flowers!”
“And perfume.”
“And shampoo.”
“And eyeballs.”
“Eyeballs?”
“Eyeballs.”
“I don’t think it tastes like eyeballs at all.”
“I don’t even know what eyeballs taste like.”
“Well then how do you know it doesn’t taste like eyeballs, Nanny?”
“How do you know it does taste like eyeballs?”
“Everyone knows what eyeballs tastes like.”
“I was a crow once. That’s how I know what eyeballs taste like.”
“You were never a crow, Daniel.”
“I was! I flew into a cloud and thunder came out.”
“Daniel was never a crow, Nanny.”
“He’s making it up to impress you.”
“Well, I certainly am impressed, Daniel. So, who wants another piece of Turkish Delight?”
“No.”
“No.”
“Definitely NO!”
“Yes.”
“He doesn’t, Nanny.”
“I do.”
“You don’t, Daniel.”
“You definitely don’t.”
“That’s how they get you, Daniel.”
“You’ll never escape!”
3.
“What is this?!”
“It tastes like ice cream!”
“But it looks like lemonade!”
“It’s cream soda.”
“Cream spider more like.”
“That doesn’t make any sense!”
“You don’t make any sense!”
“I do!”
“You don’t!”
(repeat to fade)
4.
“You never ate these, Nanny.”
“We can’t believe anyone EVER ate these.”
“They’re not even food.”
“They’re weetabix, Nanny!”
“With butter on them!”
“And no milk!”
“I’m not finished yet. Look, next you sprinkle sugar on the butter like this…”
“Nanny, this is disgusting!”
“If Mum finds out you’re feeding us this she’s going to send you back to the moon!”
“Well, actually, this used to be your mother’s favourite, back when she was your age.”
“It wasn’t?!”
“It was.”
“Not Mum?!”
“She would NEVER.”
“Mum only eats spaghetti bolognese.”
“And cheese on toast.”
“And christmas cake and wine.”
“But not this.”
“Never this.”
“Dad was sent to the caves for less than this.”
“The lodger went to prison for less than this.”
“The witch was banished to hell for less than this!”
___________
Notes:
1. Written on 27th May, 2022
__________
They found it in the woods. The glass was shattered. Its hands refused to move. But once or twice a day it worked as perfectly as could be.
__________
Notes:
1. Written on June 4th, 2022
__________
“Well that’s the end of the year,” Agnes said to no one but herself. “For another year.”
__________
Notes:
1. Written on January 1st, 2021
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