by Chloe Elliott | Jan 1, 2023 | Featured, Twelve Days of Christmas
I am made of ice When I say this please know me. Know that it has taken months. Believe me. They’ve noticed. Another student house to fill with snow and boxes. One more fight to pick. I am no longer phased by damp. Or mould. Or unexpected calls from the landlord....
by Chloe Elliott | Dec 31, 2022 | Featured, Twelve Days of Christmas
To the Salmon I Ate at Christmas I honestly thought it would be fine. I’d eaten other salmon—years ago—and thought I could eat you too. The tin was pink and fit snug in my palm as I carried you home. I admired your sleek vessel as you sat on my shelf...
by Helen Ivory | Dec 30, 2022 | Featured, Twelve Days of Christmas
The Singing Ice Some stories tell the truth. Some stories lie. Make sure you can tell the difference. When the youngest sister killed the eldest for daring to be the one to inherit and court the man who should by rights have married the youngest...
by Helen Ivory | Dec 29, 2022 | Featured, Twelve Days of Christmas
A Star with a Star on Top This year’s tree has some kind of Viking heritage – you can smell sea on its breath and smoke in its hair. We managed to disarm it upon entering the house, after discovering three broad swords and a hammer hidden among...
by Helen Ivory | Dec 28, 2022 | Featured, Twelve Days of Christmas
Christmas 1978 We didn’t ask him to play dead. His record was three days. But we kicked each other over like he’d told us then cleared the battlefield. We spied his advance, inch by inch, the big shoe dragging, polished beneath a sharp crease....
by Helen Ivory | Dec 27, 2022 | Featured, Twelve Days of Christmas
The Angel Gabriel Visits Mary in Bedlam (Ecce Ancilla Domini!) After Dante Gabriel Rossetti look at the dove so wide a suicide against the wall wrap it up in the blue cloth I’ve been keeping it unwrinkled for such a purpose long blue...
