What Are We Made Of?
What are we made of? asks the child who cries
who just wants a toy she can play with
or to ask most politely before she dies
“is there someone out there I can stay with.”
The Power of Self Belief and Self Care; and the Scourge of Anxiety
A couple of months ago, I was invited to be part of a panel discussion on the Power of Self Belief and Self Care.
A Place to Breathe
My, what a lovely place you have
you must be very proud
I love your modern furniture
and the space that you’ve allowed
The Lifestyle You Ordered
The lifestyle you ordered is currently out of stock
our warehouse has been stripped of supplies
our people are working around the clock
be sure to remember your size
I Remembered Yesterday
I remembered yesterday the times that I have with you
And visions of the grateful days and all that I have wished for you
Nothing Else Matters
The table for two is available now, once the staff clear the mess away
and the children stop their crying
mothers do their best at mothering and controlling the noise
we look on we know they’re trying
Border Crossing Observatory
The Border Crossing Observatory (BOb) produces high quality, innovative academic research to transform understandings of irregular migration and border control.
Lamingtons
Lamingtons are cool,
lamingtons are a hit
I like eating lamingtons
more than just a bit
One Day
There’s a ghost selling memories down by the shore
as a jury decides its fate
there’s a man of religion knocking at my door
I need to lie down, he can wait.
The Failing Science
At university I studied Economics, known, for good reason, as the dismal science. My tutor once asked the class for our definition of the subject we had enrolled in.
Dignity
My Father taught me a few things, without of course, knowing that he was, in the process, teaching me at all. One of them involved my first post university job, or the attempt at landing one.
I Turn Out the Lights and Listen to the Pain
There is a place I go, a not necessarily pleasant place but it is, all the same, necessary that I go there. It’s also, ironically enough, a place of solace.
Lost
When we are young our spirit is to make our own way, to turn our backs on whatever it is that society entreats of us, to collectively thumb our nose and to carry rebellion as a badge of honour, or at least is was back in the day.
The Greek word for Sadness
The doctor had called about some news he needed to discuss with her, it was better if she came in he said, better that the news be delivered face to face. A cold shiver went down her spine, she didn’t have the courage to ask for a straight answer…
The Patient’s Wife
It commanded my attention searing its way through my chest, its steady rhythm building to an ominous crescendo, the reverberation ricocheting between my ears as it clutched my throat in a vice like grip.
Rehabilitation Exercises
A short video montage of progress since my surgery.
My Own Best Friend
Stooping down and listless still
the rain, the pavement scarried
the men they took my food and oil
and all that I had carried
I’m Tired of Being Tired
It’s been two years and I haven’t been able to write. A combination of factors has contributed to this creative inertia, summarised, in general terms, by the existence and subsequent evacuation of a brain tumour and by the summary afflictions that comprise recovery of same.