Follow the Star How you were wished upon in your stella nurseries, luminous heavenly bodies, your play held in thrall. How brightly you twinkle in the eye of the gods. ‘Come to us, little stars,’ they cajole ‘we’ll teach you to bend your fervent...

    Boxing Day The old year blew us westerlies, earth-scented and lively until the solstice. Now he sighs out his last five days in a whisper of frost. We walk in the park round artificial water and landscaped hills. Sleek birds at home in cold carve...

      The 25th How the hell do they do that year after year on the morning of this Decemberfest purloined from Mithra; timed to perfection best bib and tucker yellow beaks gleaming posing for presents promising nirvana if I feed them now tip tapping my...

    Needles Gathering After Grandmother’s arrival - a crisp footfall on Christmas Eve - my sister and I lay awake in our twin beds. Turning our heads, we faced each other, smirked at her voice rising from the dining room below; stuffed heads into feathered...

    The Homewrecker and His Pun She has high hopes for her white sauce this Christmas. The roux glistens from the wash and slap of milk, as she lightens it a ladle at a time. Her veins grow taut on her forearm as she beats the buttery yellow mixture....

    Flying with Larus minutus An unwanted journey, return to a dark town in the hill country, a room where you were born. And she’s still there, same wallpaper, same carpets, that heaving, scratching dog. I peer out for a sign. Lights fly out from the gloom....