No Exit

Step by step you walk through the door And into the impenetrable dark Your lantern illuminates little more Than a patch of wall, a stretch of floor Impressions only, no clear view Of where you are The noise of your footsteps is muffled They seem so loud with no other sound But your shallow, fearful…

When Your Face is Not Your Own

I walked into the bathroom, looked into the mirror, and realised that the reason my face felt odd was that half of it had simply stopped moving. The eye on that side would not blink, that side of my mouth would not smile or frown or anything. I was petrified. Was I having a stroke?…

The Form of You

Sweep up the pieces Make sure you get them all Use a good, solid glue Now comes the tricky bit Piece by piece Bleeding sliver by aching shard Begin your reconstruction Assemble again the form of you Defy fear and disregard despair Doggedly work on your renaissance Don’t think about how you’ve been here before…

Review “Needful Things” (1993)

Based on a novel by Stephen King, “Needful Things” describes the opening of an antique shop in a small town, called ‘Needful Things’. The proprietor, Leland Gaunt (Max Von Sydow) always seems to have the very item stocked that a person needs, that touches some deep desire or fills some hole in their hearts. The…

The Last Few Steps

Ascending the rainbow stair Climbing the colours of sunrise Up on high, stretching to heaven I’m nearly there Even the birds can’t reach me When I walk the path of the clouds Riding the current of the whirling world Silence will greet me Saying goodbye to the earth Turning my face to the sky The…

Motley

A motley ghost A stitched together spectre Pieces of lives from long ago Walking the hallways Wailing down the staircases Clank a chain or two in the cellar Is it man or woman Wronged wife, murdered child Head of the house slain in battle Prisoner starved to death It is all of these Shreds of…

Review “The Last Boy” (2019)

“The Last Boy” is described as science fiction, but personally I would call it fantasy – there is precious little science involved. Sira (Flynn Allen) is living in a caravan with his dying mother. She gives him instructions about a place he needs to travel to, and a map. There is a ‘wind’ that will…

A Story of Creation

A story written in the patterns of the air Following the wind’s road in all its winding Over cloud and under star Looping back on itself and starting again A story scratched in earth and stone Following the winding of water and root Over rock and under soil Renewing and starting over again This is…

Review “Glass Onion” (2022)

“Glass Onion” is a sequel of sorts to “Knives Out”, starring Daniel Craig as detective Benoit Blanc. It is another Agatha Christie-style whodunnit, with a group of rich friends called together to a Greek Island by their billionaire ‘genius’ friend for a weekend of fun. Blanc himself gets an invitation, only for the millionaire to…

The Masks of Forgetting

Time passes and the world keeps moving Moving on without those we’ve lost We are shattered pieces on the floor But no one remembers Life will not wait for our pain And so, we pick ourselves up and pretend To those around us, to ourselves We place on our faces the masks of forgetting To…