‘Can you hear that noise again? A ‘clunk, clunk, clunk’, coming from the clapped outtreadmill you found on Gumtree. ‘Free, pick up only.’ That should have been warning enough, but you said it just needed a couple of new bearings and it’d be right as rain.’
Continue reading “Body Image by Cheryl Rogers”Tenuously Acquainted by Katherine Watson
Mum makes that tutting noise that only annoys me because I do it too. Tuttuttut in quick succession as she reads, or pretends to. Like someone knocking on her teeth asking to get out.
Continue reading “Tenuously Acquainted by Katherine Watson”Vignette by Rebekah Ward
“We’ll Run…!”
“But…. I…. have to go…with them…” “I have to.” In its palm a small orb pulsates. “Please,” she begs. “I wish you’d stay …. with me….” Leaning in she closes its palm.
YouTube Momma by Debra Tidball
10.3K Likes
Ping: ‘Your poor darling. Sending hugs and kisses to Kaylee and her Momma.’
I tuck Kaylee into her bed. ‘Cuddle?’ she murmurs. But I flop onto the lounge and return to the screen.
Continue reading “YouTube Momma by Debra Tidball”Safety in Mundanity by Claire Thompson
One image always pinned to my eyes is the smoke of that summer. Not really an image then, at least not a clear one. Just grey. A city encased in smoke. Like bees, we were made drowsy by it. Stumbling down pathways, throats stinging with ash.
Continue reading “Safety in Mundanity by Claire Thompson”Seed by Agnes Sunil
Heather Greenway peered out of her little mud hut, overlooking her once colourful and joyous village. Heather’s village was now filled with ash and smoke. When her parents were alive, they told her of a village that had plants, trees, flowers and all sorts of beauties.
Continue reading “Seed by Agnes Sunil”Top of the Queue by Libby Sommer
‘Great to see people out and about again today,’ I’m saying out loud to no-one in particular, frothing milk at the coffee machine. ‘Three days of fire-quenching rain,’ he agrees, as if he were a mate of mine.
Continue reading “Top of the Queue by Libby Sommer”The Woven Image by Dorothy Simmons
So God created man in his own image. But not woman? Someone to rib – hah! -your mates about? No Goddess? Several. Just check your myths and legends. Multi-tasking already. I think about such things as I crouch at my loom, bearing down on each individual strand, growing the weft which will carry the whole weave.
Continue reading “The Woven Image by Dorothy Simmons”Seen by Emily Ralph
Hello, my smile says, are you looking for me? You hesitate, your thumb hovers above a one-dimensional girl whose face is no larger than your cuticle, a flatscreen Thumbelina begging for one moment of consideration.
Continue reading “Seen by Emily Ralph”Southern Oscillation by Brenda Proudfoot
The busted door was something he could do without. Gary opened the ute’s passenger door and slid across the seat. He didn’t give it a second thought. His mind was drowning in figures. How many days until his dam was empty? How long ’til the overdraft ran out? It had taken him years to build up a quality herd.
Continue reading “Southern Oscillation by Brenda Proudfoot”