*****When I freeze in the silent kitchen—crazy-crackled plate in hand—and my gaze flicks between your chair, my chair, and a hillock of beans slipping over the edge of charred toast, and barely cold yet ricochets around my brain like pebbles bouncing down a cliff and I’m wondering if I can remember how to pray. […]
Competition Twenty-Six Highly Commended: The Edge Read More »
It was a tiny lie. I never held another man’s cheeks between trembling palms and kissed their lips, allowing them to kiss mine—never pulled another close and down and down and down, the breath ripping through my chest, to the rhythm of midnight hoofbeats, thundering, thundering, thundering—never wrapped my arms around another man’s back and
Competition Twenty-Two Highly Commended: Johnny’s a Fighter Read More »
A splash of crimson roses. A bubbling of saucepans—like the drumming of hooves on sand, like the blatter of wind-whipped bunting, like laughter across the bay. A clink of long-stemmed glasses. A rapture of scents: deep earthy asparagus, sweet tangy raspberries, musk. A smear of chocolate fondant. The slither of pooling silk, the sigh
Competition Sixteen Shortlisted: This House Knows Read More »
