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The Man With The Canvas Face
Once there was a man whose face was a canvas. He had two eyes, a nose and a mouth, but only when someone had kindly drawn them on for him. He never allowed the person to use anything other than a pencil, and kept an eraser with him at all times. Sometimes, if the features were excessively striking, he would ask to have his picture taken before he ( Read more... ) -
He grew a beard...
OriginalHe grew a beard. It was the easiest solution he could think of. Later, he would realise that a scarf would have been as useful for his purposes, and require almost no time to put on. In any case, he stayed in the house for a week, for he was not one of those men who grew 5 o'clock shadows at noon, and to go out with a scraggly patch would ( Read more... ) -
1234.5 Words
Summer Heat [1]
It was the beginning of summer when we moved into the house. Susanna’s grandfather had left her his spacious countryside manor [2], and since we needed a place to live while I finished the book and rents in the city would be beyond our means while I was otherwise unemployed, it seemed as good a solution as any at the time. The ( Read more... ) -
Love in Hexasyllables XXXVI: Conversation
I wish you would listen
When I tell you to close
The blinds before we fight.
Neighbours are eavesdropping!
When I tell you to close
The door, it is because
Neighbours are eavesdropping.
They know you will walk out
The door. It is because
I still think I love you
(They know you will walk out)
That I make the effort.
I still think I love you,
But what if I regret
( Read more... ) -
Four Dramatic Situations
Adultery
John lay awake till midnight, waiting for Jane to fall asleep. When her breathing finally slowed to the steady rhythm of unconsciousness, he gently lifted the sheets and slipped out of bed, praying the bedsprings would not creak. They did not. He looked at her, lying there in bed, and felt not remorse but satisfaction that she could not ( Read more... ) -
Spoof Advert
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An Honest Mistake
He would not be coming. Not this time, which meant not ever anymore, as far as she was concerned. She knew this without disappointment, without recrimination, with the resignation of someone who has been let down so regularly that she has come to expect it, to anticipate it even when she has no reason to. So she was not upset. Just annoyed with ( Read more... ) -
Happy Deathday
She shifted uneasily in her seat, the plastic sticky and uncomfortable against her skin. Why didn't someone turn the air conditioning up, she wondered. To either side, her neighbours mopped their brows, one with a dirty handkerchief, one with a piece of tissue that she wadded and threw at an already overflowing bin. She missed, but made no move to ( Read more... ) -
Love in Hexasyllables XXXV: My iPod & You
And so we go, again,
right back to the same old
songs that no one ever
wanted to sing. I did,
until the day that I
returned and caught you with
your newfound joy, a boy.
My circuits blazed and I
confess I was a mess
and stopped working, spiteful.
But then he left and so
I caved and played our songs
once again, forgiving. -
Love in Hexasyllables XXXIV: From A Grecian Grave
They said you loved me best ( Read more... )