Names
We give names to almost everything we see, hear, touch and feel. We also change them into what we call Pet Names, why, I really don’t know. Perhaps it is our nature to label things. Maybe it gives colour to…
Pat Barnett
Forbidden Playground
The smell of the mud along the banks of the Vulcan Brook should have been warning enough: not to play there. Our mothers threatened the severest of beatings if we should be caught wandering near to it – let alone…
Nemesis
Nemesis ‘All that I am saying is I want you out of my life – forever.’ ‘Oh, I see.’ ‘Ahh – No, no, no, no. I don’t believe you. That’s your problem, you never, ever see. You have always lived…
Friday I’m in Love
The Cure’s music is still running through my head, now it’s Love Cats. I’m fizzing to the zany beat. It’s Friday night and the city’s pubs are emptying – folk heading to nightclubs – others swaying – weaving through traffic…
Inviting Terror
Inviting Terror The door opened slowly where it rested silently against the rubber stop. Moonlight flooded onto the symmetrical tiles of the hall floor. The only sound oozing from the parlour, where chanting could be heard – the words inaudible,…
Queen’s English
A woman on the radio said anus loud and clear, In truth she’d said another word that slipped right past my ear. Her gist was of one’s burden, re-tuned my sense of hearing. For the onus was on me to…
The Kidnappers
It is true – I was kidnapped and held for ransom by a soldier dressed like one of Fidel Castro’s men. It was the second day of my new job in the city. I was seventeen years old and in…
The Ground
The words terra firma bring music to the ears of a person who has experienced a rough flight then learns the plane has landed safely. We Earth creatures are attached to the ground by a wonderful power called gravity. Even…
Auntie’s Girl
It was always mum who cooked our food, washed our clothes and generally looked after us, but it was auntie who nurtured my soul. Mum gave me orders every morning on what not to do. Like do not tamper with…
Bookworms
Bookworms ‘That Dawkins bloke is at it again.’ ‘You mean that fella who says there’s no such thing as a god?’ ‘Aye.’ ‘Then he must have a new book to flog.’ ‘Aye, he does, and he’s called it “An appetite…