Lead Igloo | Stories, Philosophy, Opinion
Untitled VIII
Earphones dangling, blank-staring, cuticle-cleaning, heal-tapping. Phone button-depressing.
All with a life of their own.
LI
Notebook 11.02
It looked like she was still staring at him, but he couldn’t tell; the pub was dark, the art deco lamps emitting a dull, sickly glow that seemed to hang in the air like a fog.
The manager had probably made the place like this, he thought, to attract the kind of crowd that was here [...]
Watering – Part II
There is a plant on the kitchen window sill that he waters every night. It’s only small – it’s still in the original flimsy plastic pot – and he keeps it in a little ceramic bowl. But he waters it every night, pouring water into the plant’s centre until the water rises up out of [...]
Get another one
“Well, is that right? Television isn’t real life, sweetie. Neither are the movies. Believe you me, you know nothing about love. You won’t learn nothing about the real world from there. All that stuff you see on TV is make-believe. Your Aunty Vanessa? Good God. She doesn’t know much about anything let alone love. Kaycee, [...]
Watering the plants
He pulls the sliding door across and steps out onto the balcony. His bare feet are warm on the tiled floor. He puts his hands on his hips. This bloody summer sun – his girls have been fried. He picks up the two plastic bottles he keeps by the door and takes them inside. At [...]
Absolutely
She turned away from me, like it was her failing, while I lay on my back. It was also me who got up first, collecting my singlet and briefs from the floor on my way to the bathroom. The light, the room’s whiteness, was merciless as ever.
When I returned, she was gone, clattering around with [...]
Keith – Novel extract
While the barman pulled my beer, I looked around. Nearby, waiting to be served next, was a large man in a polo shirt and shorts, fingering his wallet. The bar lights made shadows on his face and chest, accentuating his size. On the side of the bar was a door, obviously to the pokie room. [...]
Notebook 15.12
Her hair is impeccably styled, dyed a bright blonde. An unearthly blonde. She holds a magazine in her lap, one of those thick-bound publications, printed on heavy, glossy pages, seemingly full of only advertisements for shiny, gaudy items. The type of magazine that doesn’t fit in a mailbox slit. All that she wears but her [...]
For modern admirers – Still Life, Breakfast with Glass of Champagne and Pipe
Detail of Still Life, Breakfast with Glass of Champagne and Pipe by Jan Davidsz. de Heem. Image courtesy of Liechtenstein Museum.
Mid breakfast, pomegranate opened. Lemon peeled, bread roll sampled.
For modern admirers, the painting simply is, it is as if it never not was. At no time in history were we without this. Contemporary eyes can’t [...]
The boxer
Lights. Lights in darkness. Is this death? Or is it birth? Birth and death are the same experiences. Face, fingers. Get up. He gets up and looks steady on his feet. The face looks at him, looks in his eyes, searching. “OK? You OK?”. He says yes not because he is, and not because he [...]