The Triple Jumper “The triple jump is ultimately pointless.” – Youtube comment “The triple jump is NOT A REAL JUMP!” – Facebook group sports were banned when martial law was declared the authorities wary of crowds united by athletes winning games breaking records he refused to cave he kept training in a clandestine triple jump [...]
April 21, 2011
Better Story Story time: years ago, us boys, we used to play a special game we liked to call bus surfing. On the way from school to the swimming pool, we’d take one of the long bendy buses with a circle in the middle, and as it sped down the curving ramps that led down [...]
April 20, 2011
Balancing Act Balance, you say, can be achieved through logic rather than through effort: shift weight to where you feel a lack then just stand very, very still where you have chosen. But I am fond of what I lack. I want some of my blanks unfilled, some places desert. And to fall with grace [...]
April 19, 2011
The Barbarian in the Garden I found the barbarian in my garden sitting uncomfortably on what turned out to be a small pile of radishes. “I will bathe my feet in your blood, worm, and my hounds shall feast on your entrails,” he said with a nod. “Yes, hello,” I said. “Are those supposed to [...]
April 18, 2011
Conversation Piece There’s no avoiding it. In new settings, you find yourself annoyed by the lack of the unusual. This stubborn refusal to differ to the degree you desired, this forgetting of entertaining trifles you were expecting, it all seems oddly spiteful, a stiffer punishment than required: how frightfully disappointing to look down when they [...]
April 17, 2011
Spoon Song One two three four There’s some broken glass on the marble floor There’s yellow dust drifting over rail-road tracks There’s a bend in the river where the water’s black There are pine cones hanging like hot air balloons Reflections in spoons Five six seven eight There’s an eagle’s nest on the garden gate [...]
April 17, 2011
WHAT Chloe West Fundraiser Gig WHEN Tuesday, April 19th, 14:00 (my set is at 21:00 – see below) WHERE The River Rooms Mill Race Lane, Stourbridge DY8 1JN (map) MORE INFO This fundraising gig has been set up to raise money for the County Air Ambulance, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Chloe West herself following the [...]
April 16, 2011
Kaleidoscope Every day is exactly the same. I wake up from a half-remembered dream. I make a pot of coffee and stick some brown bread in the toaster. I drink slowly because my teeth hurt from the hot water. I read the paper while I eat breakfast. I tend to skip through the stories on [...]
April 15, 2011
We Will Be Judged on Love Alone “We will be judged on love alone,” you’d say, and I would flinch. Then I would stammer, “Right, yes, well, maybe, but before that, why don’t you have a snack, take this, a bit too sugary, but oh so nice, and hey, you said caramel apples were good.” [...]
April 14, 2011
When the Crows Came I remember the bus was late that day, and when it finally arrived I did not see the number because I was reading the paper. So then I ran after it and spilled coffee from my non-spill cup and burned my hand and then the bus stopped and I realised it [...]
April 22, 2011
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