Aunt Vera and Uncle… Half a picture, half a story. I didn’t know my uncle’s face or even his name – he was Vera’s Mistake, Vera’s Good for Nothing, the mysterious Him of family...

      Explosion at Michelle’s cafe A waitress brushes against the lilac tree setting the spider’s line vibrating, and sending a bullet train of sunlight along the line, betraying the...

    The Shed that Stored Africa We stuffed Mogadishu behind the rusty rear wheel of Ben’s old bike.  Spokes of shadow slice the city whenever the sun cuts through a crack in the door. That...

    toby is reading in a park toby is reading in a park. no, well - i guess he's writing now. he left the holiday apartment because his friend wanted to meet a girl from tinder. tinder is...

      A House for Tiny Spirits When I die, trap my soul in a birdcage With a little plastic bath, and a plastic bowl for food Wrap the bars in cellophane so I can’t slip through...

      The Prize Until it arrives I have yet to learn to knot my tie like the sixth form girls – we junior girls still wear scrubbed knees open to the speech day sun, faces raised to...

      Night lights That summer night we sat on the balcony and lads on the lash hollered in the street. Candles burned steady yellow on the table. We drank wine, watched a window...