MELAS   First your new minted sister, limp, limp still in her adult skin, simple sugars-less run through by red ragged fibres.   Arrowheads of mitochondria, auburn as...

    True Grit for Barbara Hodgson This morning ‘Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini’ jangles out the radio and you remember holidays at Tintagel— on edge, on the edge in...

      The Day I Fired Alan Sugar I said look big guy, enough’s enough.  When it comes to the intricacies of macroeconomics and the bell curve, let’s face it, you’re not lord of the...

    Bereave a life bereft, this is a shut-in's effigy burning on the wood pile of everything I used to be, my dancing shoes are gathering dust in a moth's light I'm laughing in my filthy...

      The head of the table I During a dinner-time discussion about inter-faith ministers, I consider spilling the bottle of red wine over your shirt. 'Imagine a mountain, with many...

      A Mobile for Katie When you were little, before you had a room of your own, in which to grow cynical, and smart, and sometimes biting, despite the heavy doses we applied of...

      Haiku Tooth taped to a note re-negotiating the fee PS are you real? * The new knives and forks large and heavy in our hands soon we won’t notice. * Warm spot on the couch the...

      Remembrance of Things Past I met him at Jinty McGuinty’s on Ashton Lane. He tagged along for drinks after a conference at the university and was introduced by my colleague...

    Newlyweds The apartment was small and cheap. It was our first apartment. The walls were porous and there was a fug we could not remove. The landlord was supercilious and cantankerous...