Japanese Mermaid

In the sea you will find every creature you could imagine. The most lovely of all is a mermaid. She is cunning, drawing fishermen to their deaths as she circles their boats. I saw a mermaid once in the Sea of Japan, just before the Great Tsunami.  I was casting my net a moment before … Read more

Summer Day

A perfect summer’s day is like walking into a shop with a bakery at the back and smelling the freshly baked bread. It’s heavenly. The air is filled with the smells of goodness. Grass is cut. Recently fallen rain has made the garden leap for joy. Birds are chattering madly about the general goodness of … Read more

The Feast

Large lipped and sweating, the king summoned his guests to take their seats at the table. The succulent fruit shone in a large gold bowl set in the middle of the magnificently carved oak table. Various silver platters overflowed with glistening piles of roast pig, chicken and sliced meats adorned with olives, pickles and roasted … Read more

The Memory of Water

Can you remember? Each drowning sailor’s final prayerQuartz rock singing against your moleculesThe flames of Pompeii as the lava hissed against youNero fiddling as he drunkenly engulfed you The wooden buckets while London burned awayNoah on deck with his face held up to the rainThe soft caress of ink as Confucius wrote the AnalectsBubbling in … Read more

Iron Harvest

Dark and rusted fruits of the Great WarStill lie buried like poisonous potatoesEvery year farmers collect theseUnexploded shells and ordinancesIn what is known as the Iron Harvest The trenched swamp of the Western FrontIs the grocery aisle of harboured deathA ploughshare ripping the earthAdds another name to the wall of remembrance One out of fourIs … Read more

Interview

Do you enjoy working with others?Sneers the earthwormEdging to the surface Where do you see yourself in five years?Leers the maggotNibbling on the raw nerve Are you a people person?The cockroach cacklesFloating in curdled milk When can you start?A faint whimper as you grindYour heel with squishy confidence

Morning Rain

It began like drizzled oilThe stomach grumblings of the low nebulaHeralding its pitter patter arrivalWhile dogs bolted for warm kennels and birds frolicked Happy for someOthers lurking troll-like under sheltering bridgesPeople-shapes scattering with plastic over headsPlaying dice with screeching cars The contrails of red lights leaving smearsOn the puddled iron-lung freewayWhile cars and trucks and … Read more