the central even in e.m. forster's 'a passage to india' is the alleged rape of an adela quested an english woman by doctor azis and indian man. there is an extraordinary silence around the alleged rape, with the allegations themselves being incomprehensibly shadowy. the attack as adela quested describes(imagines?) it is spoken of in terms of ( Read more... )

in the playground we had been observing butterflies from the chrysalis stage. the children were amazed by the beauty of their fragile wings and the delicacy of their flight. i have always been a little uncomfortable around moths and butterflies, whose shrunken deaths-heads and mandibles seem gruesome compared to the joy of their paintbox wings.the ( Read more... )

i overboiled the soup this lunchtime. i had it early at about eleven thirty because i got up at seven and went shopping for scouring pads and shampoo and discount hairspray and a bag of oranges and some soup. i got paid today and even though it is not enough to plug the gaps in all the leaky areas of debt and rent and things it still beats stealing ( Read more... )

four equally placed red lamps came up a moment or two after the performance began. there had been a murmur as all the lights went out, perhaps we had expected a more typical showing of film on the background projection screen but there was none at all. c m von hausswolff's performance had begun in disorienting blackness as a low drone multiplied ( Read more... )

yesterday was really fun. i started a story with these three words on the bus - "esme was furious". it seemed then as though it might turn out to be a cheap and lurid gothic romance. i have never attempted to write a story on the 8.10 bus to grimesthorpe on a friday morning before, i did have a seat but there were a lot of people crowding around it ( Read more... )

we were not really interested i guess that's obvious why do i need to say that but there were some who were either genuine cases or else timid, nervous, bored. tortoiseshell glasses helen whispered or did i just imagine that she did when she later told me? asparagus and pesto wrap i thought tucking in imaginarily after our early morning windowshop ( Read more... )

the black umbrella has no dignity in this fierce wind, i feel foolish as i am buffeted against the driving rain as though in some ocean-tossed vessel absurdly clinging to the foam. repeatedly i push violentluy into the gusts determined to overcome its rage. useless battered fabric skews outward so i scrunch it spitefully into my bag. nearer town i ( Read more... )

there was not a definite sharpness to the air, a frisson or tang that however fetid could be avoided via mazy inhalations; rather there was a bland underlay carpeting the city. i went to buy some cinnamon raisin bagels for breakfast this morning from the convenience store. i would not ordinarily shop there but became a victim of its eponymy and the ( Read more... )

1.we had the blues this morning, in the grey light ( Read more... )

I think that it's wrong how much emphasis i'm placing on two disparate but equally pivotal events; finishing my second sidney sheldon novel and the time we spent a week in the cockpit ( Read more... )