Posted on

Soilmates (Short Story)

Donal Kelly Feenish Island Black and White

Out in the rhododendron, an old wind lies coiled lengthways along thick roots. The acidic slopes they twist through drop steeply towards the curve of the fjord. Sounds of the Atlantic and its dwellers drift up on younger, more eager …

Posted on

Short Story: Birds of a Feather

Joe waited until he was home alone before opening the bag. He dropped it on the kitchen table over a touristy place mat and scattering of unopened envelopes. His sweaty fingers gripped the zipper and the canvas spilled apart into …

Posted on

To Hanbury Gardens We Will Go

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.

The car pulled up outside the entrance and three siblings stepped out into the hot sunshine. Sharp light …

Posted on

Short Story: Follow Me

Suddenly Sam found himself sitting at the next table to Sam.

To be more clear, Sam McKenna suddenly realised that he was sitting at a table next to a table where Sam McKenna sat.

To be clearer still, here we …

Posted on

Short Story: Swim Swim

701-9 Test 3028. 2017-12-15. 16:22.

Click. swing. Light up. Foodbody? Grabbody. Grabbody smell.

Grab grab. Grab grab go. Up up. Smell loud. Body loud. Away away. Over. Grab grab. Down. Ear loud. Down.

Splash splash. Grab go. Grabbody smell. Swim …

Posted on

Short Story: A Fairy Gust

Hokusai: Ejiri in the Suruga Province

***page title image: Ejiri in the Province of Suruga, by Katsushika Hokusai (1832)***

“A fairy gust,” said the mother to herself in the kitchen.

It had come flung from the Atlantic, down through the low mountains and into the narrow …

Posted on

Very Short Story: The Mistake

rear view mirror

The Mistake (a very short story)

Wasn’t like the daydreams at all. They chased me up Taylor’s street and left down St. Kilda’s Avenue and over the grassy wall into Finny Park where the trees were just beginning to leaf …

Posted on

Short Story: Patients

After washing my hands with warm water I squirt disinfectant gel on them from the plastic dispenser that hangs on the wall, and stand looking in the mirror while I rub them dry. Looking older? Surely, but it’s so hard …

Posted on

Short Story: Dossers

Baurisheen at dusk

When the branch of the beech tree broke Morris fell down in a heap next to the trunk. He lay there and stared at the sky. “Stupid branch!” he cursed upwards. The tree was unmoved, its leaves shivering in the …

Posted on

Short Story: Signing On

Coffee in Eyre Square

Burgundy. Cabernet Sauvignon. Merlot. White, red, rosa, bubbly. Brian bought 500 grams of dry fusilli pasta in Dunness Stores before going to the Dole Office to sign on. He should have gone earlier; it was overflowing when he got to …