His thesis, written in the 1960s, argued that any embodiment of the word ‘refugee’ struck terror into human hearts and minds. Whether a refugee fled persecution on account of race, religion, nationality or political opinion did not matter. To understand the predicament, examples of geography could be avoided: in fact, any person who sought refugeContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘A Thesis’”
Tag Archives: Fiction
100-Word Fiction: ‘Nowhere’s Flood’
Lord Jesus, think on me well, for I built a shippe for your animals. Yet those people did not come aboard. They stayed wretched and drunk even as the storm approached and I was left alone with the beasts. When all was still I let your raven fly in search of some dry haven. ItContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Nowhere’s Flood’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Curfews’
What are we If the oncoming silences Sweep in early to Mute us even now? And what if the stories we float Are jetsam for the tide? What prospect is a journey When we cannot believe it ourselves? And where do we get If all the yards of days Are dismantled by dusk To bridgeContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Curfews’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Fare Thee Well Pete Seeger’
How to succeed as a musician? You play well but are modest about your talent. You sing strong without the need for any tuneless holler. You write about big things with words all folks can understand. You don’t avoid conclusions though you know some matters are contradictory at times. You respect what was, come toContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Fare Thee Well Pete Seeger’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘WTF’
I was at breakfast, on the morning of Mike and Joe’s wedding – feeling happily smug that the world we live in ain’t like it used to be, no Sirree – when the news broke on the telly that a local councillor had claimed that the recent storms and floods were ‘divine retribution for theContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘WTF’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Boat People’
I dreamed we had to cross the creek where the old ford once made it easy. The river was deep and the current strong. Silt turned the water brown. Or was the river a lake too wide to swim across? Or was it a sea? There were boats crammed full of people, shouting, who stoodContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Boat People’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Jesus of Kingsway’
Jesus takes the rubbish out when the last customers leave the café at 5.45, nods to the lads on the street and goes back inside, brings down the shutters, exits by the back. Charlie and Isaiah are the first to the bags, carefully untying the orange plastic and reaching inside. Ricky and Mohammed look on,Continue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Jesus of Kingsway’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Ends Again’
‘Ends’ is a word that keeps returning. It unravels every time. Whenever I think it sufficient it fails. There is more to be written, even after ends. Sometimes I mis-type it as ‘dens’. And then I rearrange the letters again. Dens! Delete, delete, delete, delete. I may recollect that these weeks at the end ofContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Ends Again’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘In No Particular Order…’
1. Dress up and jive dance at the Clore ballroom. 2. Watch carol singers on a giant screen in Paternoster Square. 3. Take the kids to My Brother the Robot at the Roundhouse. 4. Shop for last-minute gifts at a ‘German’ market on the South Bank. 5. Donate blood at Leytonstone Methodist Church. 6. HearContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘In No Particular Order…’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Ends’
How we think about life when it ends. The morning streetlight amber, off in an instant. The geese that fly in and then loop back without warning. The frosted cars idling by the pavements. The early fog that lifts slowly above the church tower. The shock of violas trembling in their pots. The blackbird thatContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Ends’”
MW Bewick 