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      Liberty When she asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, my mother laughed when I said ‘free’ She’s been dead for more than thirty years – not much freedom in her kitchen-sink life She settled for snatching time out, pausing with that dreamy...

      At the End of the Class   The young woman in a hijab thanked/praised/appreciated me For all I had shown/ encouraged/ inspired in her Asked whether I observed/ took part in/ celebrated Rosh Hashanah? How did she find out/ realise/ discover...

      Bison I wrote the title of the lesson on the board and underlined it with a flourish. The class listened to my introduction. I could see that even Rachel’s eyes were waiting for what I would say next. I felt calm. The pile of marking on the desk...

      Masquerade I keep thinking I see you across the street, hurrying along, you’re too busy to see me. Strange, to think of the dead being busy, people to see, places to go, so many appointments in the calendar of eternity. I used to ‘see’ you when...

      Daughters of Rain    after Mijoda Dajomi’s Rain-harvesting Hats All summer the sun scorched the city and the sky held back its tears. Yesterday, in East London, a wildfire devoured nineteen homes, while the capital’s parks burnt to dust. Adrift in...

      28th April 2015 The night before, I paced London’s streets sparkling and fizzing with ideas the pills used to dull and destroy. I felt awake, alive. Thoughts popped like fireworks, I couldn’t sleep for flashes and Bang! I solved a Pure Maths...

      Blodeuwedd ensorcelled by Gwydion And so I went into the owl. Eyes, green as moss, darken to black. Oak tassels spell-woven to feathers. A blossom-soft body wrath-scorches to brown. Broom flowers harden to bone, curve into beak, curl into talons....

      Portrait You notice the nose: webbed veins spritzed with little flicks of red, purple blotches daubed with a palette-knife, broken ends where blood-vessels gave up the ghost. You see the waistcoat bristling Harris Tweed, the label peeking out just...

      First Funeral Fascinated by the priest’s teeth I don’t realise I’m kicking the pew in front with a restless foot until someone taps me sharply on the knee. I’m near the coffin on its trestles and a plaster Jesus whose wounds shed drops of hard...

      Beginner's Italian In Italian I have no inner life. With no past or future tense My needs are immediate. I have hunger. I eat. I have thirst. I drink. I have the name for wine not peas.   The heat is good. I want. Yes, I sleep well, thank you. But...

      I sit on the grass and listen to the earth purring   rose is thirsty rose senses water rose root rummages in the earth rose root punctures lung and frontal lobe rose stem is a green straw sucking rose stem sways like a tail rose thorn is a...

      Pigeon Politics   Pigeons have invaded the garden, two then four, then a flock. They roost in the apple tree to nest, reconnoitre or mate ignore my sorties to deter them and shit without stint on patio and herb bed, foul lovely hyssop and...

      Glory of the Blacker Berry Today. Let us forget the blunt-edged sorrows. Remember the black joys, my darker brother— the high laughter of women, the bright, unbothered stride of boys. We have died more times than the days have names, yet here is...

      the sky and the water and the birds and the fish (Inspired by Sky and Water I. 1938. Maurits Cornelis Escher) the sky met the water where the birds met the fish the sky met the water where the fish met the birds the sky met the birds where the...

      Going Nowhere Fast Impotent in family life and ineffectual at work, sometimes he would spend a full quarter-hour just circulating the mini-roundabout on his moped, dizzy from the power of blocking everyone else.   Gordon Vells is a writer and...

    Endings after the soil exhibition at Somerset House first i go to finitude     while you favour plenitude & birth     the source beneath our feet      i recoil at the abject     the never-ending cycle of leaves under loam     a seedbed for eggs  or...