by Helen Ivory | Jan 2, 2020 | 12 days 2019
Led By Donkeys Their lies are visible from space, carved out of sand in vast bold script: Proditione writ large Pietas ficta screaming to the sky. On the ground, our language shackles us: tongue-tied, we’re led, protesting, dragged between jagged rocks, sharp drops...
by Helen Ivory | Jan 1, 2020 | 12 days 2019
Care and Management of a New Year Hold at arm’s length, remembering how the predecessor scorched. Raw skin, ready to heal, flinches under a moonlit whispering. Ring ting-a-ling. Pull an arm’s length of rope, hefting extra holiday weight. Those bells need to peal....
by Helen Ivory | Dec 31, 2019 | 12 days 2019
Sparklen Bottle Grandma’s sparklen in the winterdark house where I grew up loved me the best: I pushed my nose up close to see fireflies leap and sputter, glow-worms climb and fall in tiny squeezes, flayed hearts of angels – I know she...
by Helen Ivory | Dec 30, 2019 | 12 days 2019
Keeping it private To escape disgrace, outrun the wagging tongues, she took a break from home by going to visit her cousin. Such happy days they spent together there, two young women with so much to share. Then he, shy, loving and ready to accept...
by Helen Ivory | Dec 29, 2019 | 12 days 2019
Christmas Politics I sang with my neighbours today in our ramshackle way struggling to find the starting notes, so our carols won’t be too high or too low. We don’t call ourselves singers. Really it’s just an excuse every fortnight to be together...
by Helen Ivory | Dec 28, 2019 | 12 days 2019
His Daughters It wasn’t the life you’d imagine. Most nights he’d be out, on the sherry early doors. Closing time, he’d come back and start. Exploding over nothing, he’d throw his tea at the wall, smash the place up, scatter...
