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’”
Tag Archives: writing
100-Word Fiction: The Red Tree
She had never noticed the small tree with the red leaves just around the corner – couldn’t say whether the leaves were red all year or only turned so in autumn. It was only the kids playing on their scooters one morning that drew her attention. Then she forgot about it again. The following dayContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: The Red Tree”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Beaches’
As large and smooth as the rocks jutting through the sand, sleek and blue-black as polished granite on top; fleshy and white underneath, they were found on beaches within days of each other, their long, beakish mouths agape in now endless smiles. Seven metres nose to tail, lying inert near to the poster-paint splash ofContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Beaches’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Kepler 2’
I am still out there, spinning. I don’t want to shackle the sun. That desire is gone. But gravitational pull is good and every day needs lit, surely. There are smaller stars: brighter clusters of light with common origins and achievable distances. I have spotted them in the ecliptic plane. I had never seen themContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Kepler 2’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Kepler 1’
Have a drink while we spin around a star. If I am alive! You are, if not unique. Welcome, in any case. Our galaxy contains at least 2 billion planets just like Earth – and you arrive here. Where else? I put myself first. As the suns light my mornings, I like to get toContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Kepler 1’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘A Slow News Week’
A slow news week. A slow news week. A slow news week. A slow news week. A slow news week. Rent a smaller home. A slow news week. A slow news week. A slow news week. A slow news week. A slow news week. Wear a warmer jumper. A slow news week. A slow newsContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘A Slow News Week’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘A Raft for the Medusa’
A decade’s unreported anarchy brings blood and dust, charted in numberless rusted cells where violence tells and torture proves. They flee across the desert by truck, in the hands and debt of gangs, to make border disappearances. In Libya and Yemen the smuggled bodies pay for thieved papers with degraded favours. Honours are all lost.Continue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘A Raft for the Medusa’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Perspectives’
Daddy. Who was not where? Beards at the kitchen table. Dad. Ties styled wide to thin. A holiday in Somerset, golden evenings and tractors. A rainy motorway and shouting. Father travels first-class now. Him and Vic. Vic Benson is important. An important name. To me. I went away. So did dad. Pinstripes blurred. Dad tookContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Perspectives’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Freedom Fruit’
They lift from the hedgerow Light as cobweb and spun sugar A shroud of lace for a season’s going Displaced migrants, the bramble’s other Temporary lover: Jenny Long Legs rise in a cloud In pestilent numbers this September As hands shake the limbs of briar For black berries and rose hips On foraging trips. PeaceContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Freedom Fruit’”
100-Word Fiction: ‘Autumn Passings’
It’s when, these mornings, that someone passes in the road and says hello and I don’t know what to do, and I clam up, or I hang my head slightly and whisper Hi, or Alright?, like the sullen teenager I was. And I wonder why I can’t reply confidently, head up, even now, after theseContinue reading “100-Word Fiction: ‘Autumn Passings’”
MW Bewick 