A Sophisticated Palate
First published by Continue The Voice Press on 10th October 2021.
The phrase: “I like my men like I like my coffee” ruined any expectations I had for a man.
I had my first at fifteen, four of us squashed onto a two seater sofa in Starbucks. The last
summer where nothing mattered. We could spend every other day in Starbucks, drinking in
the air conditioning, and feeling; feeling like this caffeine fix was an adventure. Perhaps it
was, like a coming of age. I remember my mother being so excited that I had found
something to keep my attention off school during my free time. She always worried I wasn’t
getting the full teenage experience…
Sunburn Affairs
First published in Lucent Dreaming, Issue 7 in April 2021. Re-Published in Dwarf Stars’ 2022 Anthology in August 2022.
Dearest,
Our meetings may be fleeting,
But each moment’s worth the pain…
Her Bloodied Hands
First published by Juven Press on 15th May 2021.
The queen was doomed to die.
Plague had swept the palace; each day, another handmaid, chaplain or stable-hand was falling ill, and being thrust into an infirmary that was lacking cots. Pallid skin and lethargy flooded the servants’ quarters, but the royal family hadn’t succumbed. For years, no matter what doctors were summoned to the palace, the servants were dropping like apples from the orchard…
In Body, And Mind
First published by Corporeal Magazine on 29th March 2022
I have built an altar on my chest
Of drawers, dedicated to my body,
I will no longer host vigils for my
Eighteen-year-old self’s goblet hips.
Nobody will drink wine from my collarbones
The brewery closed down…
Low Season and Matilda’s Ark
First published by Little Thurrock Primary School in their newsletter, on 5th November 2021.
These poems were written for the children at the school to enjoy, with language and imagery used in these instances are reflective of the ages of the students. Although both poems were available to read, the distinction between the writing for the students from age four to seven, versus eight to eleven needed to be clear. I did this through the use of literal, tangible description in Low Season, while Matilda’s Ark contains abstract imagery, but within an accessible metaphor; the story of Matilda Wormwood by Roald Dahl.
Who’s Afraid Of Mister Woolfe?
Who’s Afraid Of Miser Woolfe is a children’s novel, which humours the traditional fairy tale, merging them together, as if they’re happening simultaneously. Consider what would have happened if the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood went on trial for his assault, and what if he pleaded not guilty because it was, apparently, an act of self defence? And, what if there was more to Granny than meets the eye?
The Beast of Wystyra
My father once said that the bravest thing that a man could do was die.
For many people in our homeland, death took the face of hooded figure in black who wore
the dismembered skull of a bull, snapped at the jaw, on the crown of his head. He would ride
on a grey speckled stallion, a wagon trailing behind him. The undertaker…
Imogen L. Smiley 