The Blog
Please follow this blog for occasional posts about what I am up to in writing, art, zen and anything else that comes up. There will be extracts from and about work in progress and musings on creative life.
Giselle and Mr Memphis – Ignatz’ first journal entry/scene setting
This is by way of a wee taster. The first few pages of Giselle and Mr Memphis. This piece was actually first published in Gutter Magazine 07 in around 2012 I think. Frankfurt 1974 5th January It’s five in the morning. I’m freezing, sitting up on a stool at...
Two Birds and a Boy
This poem was written back in 2021, when I was writing both prose and poems about some of the children I worked with at the child psychiatric unit, Two Birds and a Boy The curlew with the beautiful soft drawn feathers summoned me back. Afternoon in the...
Agnes Martin’s Arms – a note/poem
She takes short sharp breaths and makes an odd humming sound, occasionally shifting her teeth. She wears blouses of complimentary coloured horizontals… remember this film was made of over four years…she was ninety when it was finished. She is aged, monumental, slow...
Dundee NY 1984
A poem about a visit to my then partner's family in New York State, 1984. Her mother sits in the sitting room surrounded by shelves of books, with a piano to accompany her. We watch cardinals come in to the bird table. The oxygen apparatus pumps, locusts rasp and...
Superman Boy
A poem I wrote a while back about a play therapy session - Superman Boy Who was that superman/boy? He springs at me from the bench. - I want to be a superman. -Fair enough, let’s see what we can do… We do the session in the classroom – the dressing up box and the...
The Children
They still come – the children - even after all these years, and they’re welcome, despite the baggage they bring with them. The ones from before the Hospital visit less often now, usually just Kat and Billy. The ones from the Hospital drop down like pigeons in the...
The Beginnings of Billy Tuesday
I’ve been looking back through what there is of my attempt at a second novel - Billy Tuesday. If I am right this was one of the first scenes I came up with, maybe back in around 2018. You have to start somewhere and somehow these two women, awaiting the arrival of a...