by Helen Ivory | Jun 13, 2014 | Prose & Poetry
The Night Before A bed by a motorway, close by hospital A sheet for cover, diesel-thick air. An open window, door-slams and fried onions, Dusk as long-winded as the heat wave. A truck judders down on its shocks. From grey rush of...
by Helen Ivory | Jun 12, 2014 | Prose & Poetry
I Slept with Raymond Chandler He was terse to the point of silence. No snoring. No tussles over the duvet. He didn’t kick or lash out. Like a couple of babes, we slept and I dreamt of a hat, a coat and a gun. When I came to, Ray was...
by Helen Ivory | Jun 10, 2014 | Prose & Poetry
Winning/Losing In Ludo, Snakes and Ladders, plastic dots determined whether you would climb or slide, and draughts where rules came out of nowhere the wooden discs stacked up, your win denied. Monopoly meant scrabbling to buy and...
by Helen Ivory | Jun 9, 2014 | Prose & Poetry
Prison Scenes Take a piece of satin, blue sheen, appliqué to cool shadows under a generosity of willow. So many ducks this year. You’ll have your work cut out to stitch them into the scene. Whole families of them squatting on the green...
by Helen Ivory | Jun 8, 2014 | Prose & Poetry
Possum On the news tonight was a woman who evaded marriage by pretending to be dead. She could have said no, so this was a clear, if clearly indirect, disengagement and instructive example for useful deployment. I have at this...
by Helen Ivory | Jun 7, 2014 | Prose & Poetry
Ghost That Autumn he returned to clear the house, but found it full of immovable things. His sister asleep in her cot. His father raking cinders in the grate. His mother clattering like cutlery in the kitchen. His long-dead dog...
