He bangs his fist on the door and whispers 378, don’t forget…378. A teenage boy finally answers. He rolls his eyes and tuts. ‘Sake Da, rattlin’ on the door at this time. Wit is it?’ He bodychecks the boy as he breenges into the living room. […]
You’ve been banging your head against a brick wall and finally…at fuckin last…a person gets you. Doesn’t judge. Listens. Shows some empathy. Or is it sympathy? Sympathy is a big heartfelt hug and, ‘I’m so sorry ma man, ma deepest sympathy.’ Empathy is a titled head, fake, intense concentration, a gentle nodding of the aforementioned […]
I watch them from my chair by the window. Mummy has dressed me in brown, cord pedal pushers and a white blouse with navy-blue bow that dangles from the top button like a Christmas decoration. She tells me how pretty I look. How special I am. I look like one of those creepy Victorian dolls […]
Derek Weir is slouched over the bar of his local, his elbows resting on the 70 shilling beer towel. His 38 inch waist Wranglers are doing their utmost to hold his 42 inch waist in check. The spider-webs of cracked leather on his Adidas Samba are smeared in Cherry Blossom black shoe polish. His plain […]
Am the heartbeat ae this city. The main artery. The holdin cell. Yae wir probly preoccupied wi mer important matters wen wae met. A wiz watchin yae. Digestin yir ivry thought. We’ve shared an efternoon walk. Yae mibbe passed as yae hurried aff sumwher. An a remained still, mindin ma aen business. Observin. Urr wiz […]
In January 2017, while living in a soul-less new-build estate between Airdrie & Coatbridge, I became aware of a novel due for publication in a couple of weeks time. This Is Memorial Device, set in Airdrie, music a constant thread. The humorous tag line, It’s not easy being Iggy Pop in Airdrie sold it to […]
Posing questions like an inquisitive child, searching for answers, Dread and fear that we are fixed, no scope for change, A habitual sense of unease orbits the solar plexus, Demonic conspiracies arm in arm with this elaborate nexus, Shining a torchlight on the mechanics of mind, searching for answers, The fragility of optimism, exposed, lay […]
A favourite restaurant with special memories of time spent with loved ones. A holiday destination that you always return to. A specific view that takes your breath away. Most of us have a place that makes us feel something special. Something powerful…different. Following a hiatus, a couple of recent visits provided me with the confirmation […]
The sky appears to be closing in, shifting ever nearer Pockets of clouds like bones on an x-ray, floating aimlessly Mind entwined in barbed wire, a network of loops like the number eight Girls with skipping ropes and ribbons, pretty dresses as bait The unwelcome guest, an imminent arrival, shifting ever nearer No prying eyes, […]
Willie Savage was aptly named. An amateur boxer. Professional lunatic. I have the misfortune of calling him my friend. For now. While I regard our friendship as a noose round my neck, he boasts that we’ve been through everything together. From nursery to secondary school—doing time together in Barlinnie next, he jokes. Sad thing is, […]