You’re a wolf!
Yes, I am. And?
Well, I’m terrified!
Why?
You’re a wolf!
How many do you know?
You’re the first.
And your last.
Changing the guard at the sea
At the Marina bar an hour after sunrise, early sunseekers with their cappuccini and cornetti swirl and eddy around the nightclub exiters, cold water, give me cold water. The tribes mix like suntan cream and seawater.
An hour later the tattooed late-night swimmers trail up from the rocks, eyes red with salt and sleeplessness, beer bottles half full of cigarette butts and ash. The greatgrandparents distract the children with promises of coloured fish.
The princess lived in a tall tall tower
The princess lived in a tall tall tower a long way away. Through an inspired use of flame, smoke, mirrors and glass, based on a detailed knowledge of physics, chemistry, meteorology and bird biology, she managed to get a message to the prince. “No,” it said. “And don’t reply.”
Tell me a story
Daddy, tell me the story of the ninja horse.”
“I don’t know that one.”
“The princess, the sword and the unicorn.”
“Or that one.”
“Mummy knows them.”
“Clever Mummy. What about the one where Jack’s beans talk?”
“No.”
“The one where poor little Nick never gets chosen but one day the teddy bears pick Nick?”
“OK. But only if they live happily ever after. And together.”
“OK.”
“I like together.”
Noir
Young, I watched the black and white where the black and blue were shadows on night-white faces. Now, my hat is always tilted.
Spectacle
In a southern Spanish bar, Colin’s view is rosé tinted. And now, when Juan arrives, he dances, spins and stamps as people stare.
Electricity
As we walked side by side, our fingertips brushed and a spark flew. From that moment on our relationship was no longer static.
Nest
Where Abe saw a nest, Abi saw nets. She sawed at the tangles, her hope like blunt scissors. One day, finally, her heart flew.
Tea
She swirled the end of the tea around in the bowl and tipped it away. One long leaf remained, stuck camouflage green on the porcelain.
“Life will be what you make it” she said. This time I believed her.
Electric tea
Kraków. Snow. The Christmas market lights twinkled. A warming glass or two of electric tea. The lights spun and disappeared.
simonsalento 