Latest Submissions

Wrong number…

My great-uncle Arthur grew up on Box Hill in Surrey, and was therefore blessed with a head for heights. And so, when World War One broke out, he naturally signed up for the Air Balloon Battalion of the Royal Engineers. What follows is a true story ...

Parkland Tryst

Giving this one some more air ...
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Rough Rider

Schooldays. Happiest days? ...

What Was

I was looking out of a Victorian university building's high windows and all I could see was 180 degrees of nameless towers dominating the skyline. What was on the human scale No longer is, Looking out from a stone-by-stone building That starts with bones unique to it, Symmetry formed from accretion of rock, Broadens its base to uphold The span of an organic physique, Subdivided into airy rooms and intimate walls, Vital fluids pump beneath ...
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Meeting Mrs Potiphar

Truer than I'd care to admit. It's from my book ...

Nine minutes

Intro: Bryan’s life is normal and happy. He’s married, has one child and another on the way. OK so he has the mother-in-law from hell but he can live with that. Then, in the middle of an argument with his wife, he walks out.  ...

Shooting The Breeze With The Devil

 'Shooting The Breeze With The Devil On Bexhill Beach' ...

The Lark.

Apologies for another second time around submission ...

A Little Cracker

“She’s a little cracker, that one.” Arthur nodded towards the bar and threw a lascivious wink at his life-long friend, young Bill. The soubriquet had grown less appropriate with passing years. His father “old Bill” had gone to his reward 20 years earlier, aged 89. Bill wiped his greasy glasses on an even greasier pocket handkerchief and followed Arthur’s  gaze to a small woman, seated on a high stool, swinging her slim ankles. “Aye, she’s ...

The scent of wild roses

Originally published on August 8, 2005 in Poetry ...

My Medusa , Clementine

Your Medusa smile writhes sly and serpentine  And your lips: they taste of turpentine Yet you turned my heart to stone And my blood into a vintage wine   And your bells ring out across London: Sweet Clementine – Sweet Clementine Only slightly out of tune And slightly out of time What if? Two words you’ve weaponised As you’re going to blow my mind! You’re living inside a fantasy world There’s no sunshine in SanTropez ...

Fair Exchange

We were walking across the park, my Aunt Agatha and I, on our way to a fireworks party. It was the 5th of November and well past the clock change but it was still darker than I expected. The path was uneven as tree roots had broken it up, but our way was lit, now and then, by a rocket or a Roman candle from a freelance firework display One rocket burst right over our ...

Fastcat Encounter

We stood on the edge of the disgruntled queue waiting for the Fastcat it was long overdue.   I was unkempt – kind of scruffy, bohemian chic, I like to think in October sandals, windswept hair and my beard needed a trim.   He had a buttoned-down face, string-thin pursed lips, evening shadow bristling, and clutched a harsh leather briefcase.   He was clearly a singular man He wore scuffed black brogues split at the ...