Maybe Mr Brontë’s fear of fire came earlier, Before TB, night sweats, fever, blood-tinged sputum Took his wife, entire kin, five daughters and a son, Till near blind, like Rochester, and alone He circled the table in the parlour: a lost prayer. Perhaps Patrick Brontë could see himself like this: Standing on the edge of […]
The rain on the caravan roof – a skin drum, or birds dancing – and in the morning, the hens come to the caravan’s steps, feathery feet, on the hunt for bacon, maybe egg. Then – guess what? BIG surprise! The period arrives! I’m eleven. You’re eleven! Claire Innes says. Some don’t get them till […]
(for M.) It is following you and you can’t escape. You cannot hold your head up or be happy. You lose your confidence. You turn a corner: it is there. You cannot step on it; make it disappear. Dawn raids strike and you are terrified. You are imprisoned in your own life. Every time you […]
Whether the weather be dreich or fair, my luve, if guid times greet us, or we hae tae face the worst, ahint and afore whit will happen tae us: blind in the present, eyes open to the furore, unkempt or perjink, suddenly puir or poorly, peely-wally or in fine fettle, beld or frosty, calm as […]
‘It hurt. It hurt like hell. But it didn’t matter, if no one knew.’ Nella Larsen, Passing There is no answer for a broken heart, she said. Now I can’t forget the way she held her head up high. She was always kind, my Mama, dignified. There’s nothing as potent as regret, I said, out […]
If you can picture yourself on the road The one that exists in your mind If you can walk those steps again You’ll be surprised at what you find. The road that was in your head Has already found you walking: When you looked ahead, It was your footsteps waiting. Then you heard the song […]
Hila. Borda paisajes que el sueño delata Cruzada la línea del Rey que prohíbe se unen deseo y mirada Una mujer roza en otra su luna de seda las hojas la selva que alza Velamen en rojo Nocturno la nave zarpa Dueña de inmensa bahía se deja bogar por una mujer desnuda […]