SHIP We built the ship with ebony and marble and pillars of diamond. We built the ship and they came in their hundreds. Down to the dock where it towered like some primeval thing. It had taken three generations to … Continue reading
For Keith Crombie Those notes you held, out fliering your smoky and mirrored establishment – half T-Bone Walker in Walker, half T. Dan Smith in New Orleans – thrummed scat in winds from yards. Walking a bassline up Pink Lane, … Continue reading
REFUNK YOUR JUNK People drift in and out. A 10 year old boy has found something interesting. A pair of African bongos made out of carved wood with goat skins stretched over the top. “Are they for sale?” he asks … Continue reading
In the Gaze of the Crag The morning tastes of earth, the grcound damp with dew. Our bodies bend before us, heavy under the weight of gear, and expectation. We are drawn by the promise of laughter, drawn as if … Continue reading
Bede’s hands Edith Braithwaite, suffragette and stained-glass artist, stands on a platform supported by two ladders on the northern flank of the Cathedral. She is moulding a strip of lead around an almond shaped piece of cobalt glass. Below her, … Continue reading
HARP There is no peace out here on the ice. No melody of silence. The floe always groaning. Feel it underfoot, in your ribs. Though you can’t see, what we stand on is halving and hoaring. And god, the seals … Continue reading
FALSE PROPHETS Introduction: St. Dominic’s is a beautiful priory on the edge of the Ouseburn Valley looking out to the Tyne river. It was my first time attending mass and the priests and parishioners at St. Dominic’s were gracious and … Continue reading
THE COIN AT DOG LEAP STAIRS The coin was found by Pup in the dark. He nipped it up in his fist and stared at the little black spot. As if it had been carved out of the night sky. … Continue reading
NOAH’S BOATS An Experimental Workshop/Play for Theatre Noah’s Boats – Aimed at 12-15 year olds with audience collaboration in mind, the issues depicted provide opportunity to investigate situations in a community setting. Given that many young people feel they do … Continue reading
A COMBUSTIBLE EMPIRE Young thing, should you find this year a lump at your stocking’s foot, not soft nor waxy, ripe nor sweet, then reach to investigate, and find your finger’s black with soot, don’t think of it as punishment. … Continue reading