Ren Warom's Blog, page 11

The Blue Jay’s Daughter: Commelina…Backwards, Part 13

Wednesday 13th – Year of Elders, 1860 – In the Shadow of Almado

Extract from the diary of Helena Birch:

Who are you when you sleep?

I am not Helena Birch when I sleep. I am not a wire walker. I need no wire, I have my wings. In my dreams I take flight, and I leave. In my dreams there is no tent, no billowing prison. I am beholden to no one but myself.

‘ Who are you when you sleep?’ I ask.

Assumption and Avarice tell me that when they sleep they are one and the same person. They slide together under...

The Blue Jay’s Daughter: Commelina…Backwards, Part 12

Friday 21st – Year of Elders, 1967 – The Village of Almado

I dream I’m on the high wire, walking en pointe. The trees whisper around me and the wind touches my shoulders, as if urging me to walk. I spread my arms and they are wings. The right red, the left blue. Two halves of the same bird, or two birds?

Sunlight dapples on my feathers between shadows of leaves and the vein-like darkness of branches. I am both birds and tree. Birds in the trees. Do I fly or walk? The wind runs away without tell...

Blog Hop Thang…

Don’t faint. I know it’s a little out of the ordinary to see a non-fiction post up in here. I did have this whole swathe of them planned, but what is it they say about our best plans? Sheesh. Anyhow, I have been saved from boring the tits off you all with constant serial fiction by my good friend, and excellent writerPatrick LeClercwho tagged me for this blog hop thang, which I almost totally forgot about, despite leaving myself a huge reminder on my desk. Yes, I am ALL of the observant. *sig...

The Blue Jay’s Daughter: Commelina…Backwards, Part 11

The twins sit back to back on the branch of the tree. Reflected. Assumption holds out a right hand, Avarice a left. Fingers intertwined, they sit in the rising sunlight, counting the minutes down. When the sun breaches the horizon, they murmur in unison.

‘Happy birthday.’

Tuesday 18th – Year of Elders, 1967 – The Village of Almado

This is the story of Assumption and Avarice as they told it to me.

They were born on this day, I don’t know when. They are neither as old as they look nor as young – th...

The Blue Jay’s Daughter: Commelina…Backwards, Part 10

Tuesday 3rd – Year of Elders, 1852 – Somewhere south of Frisco, or perhaps a small town in Grace?

Extract from the diary of Helena Birch:

There has been a new arrival. Twins. Albino twins. I believe their names are Assumption and Avarice. Stage names or real? Does it matter? We are all who we want to be here, rather than who we once were, that is why we’re here. We’re all refugees. Survivors of the world outside.

Perforce is overjoyed. Twirls his moustaches at least twice a minute as opposed to...

The Blue Jay’s Daughter: Commelina…Backwards, Part 9

Tuesday 10th – Year of Elders, 1967 – The Village of Almado

Now I know that much of my mama is sleight of hand, illusion, I begin to wonder how much of me is real? How much is make believe, artifice? Of course I understand we all pretend to an extent, but we’re not all walking illusions like my mama. Nor do our pretences affect us physically as hers seem to. As mine do.

I’ve hidden my feathers from them for such a long time that they’ve gradually stopped growing. Of course, it’s only recently I...

The Blue Jay’s Daughter: Commelina…Backwards, Part 8

Sunday 8th – Year of Elders, 1967 – The Village of Almado

I’ve been watching my mama move across the room. She glides. I watch her feet, waiting for them to touch the ground. They appear to, but study them closely and there is the tiniest fraction of space. My mama floats.

I came back from the albinos’ wire walking on Thursday determined to know my mama. To know myself. This is how I learned that, although I’ve observed her, day in and day out for the past fifteen years, since I was in my bassi...

The Blue Jay’s Daughter: Commelina…Backwards, Part 7

Thursday 12th – Year of Elders, 1967 – The Village of Almado

The wire whispers high in the trees. A sigh strung between gossiping branches. When the sun shines directly above, it is invisible, and they float en pointe from tree to tree. Apparitions. I have watched the albinos for days and only just found out that this is what they do every afternoon. How did they hide it from me before? Or perhaps they were not hiding at all. My attention is not what it was, if it was ever anything.

Commelina w...

The Blue Jay’s Daughter: Commelina…Backwards, Part 6

Saturday 23rd – Year of Elders, 1867 – In the Shadow of Almado

Extract from the diary of Helena Birch:

How does the morning sing?

From the throats of birds.

And if the birds do not sing?

Then morning has no voice. Is silenced. Rises without sound from the east, pouring light across the horizon, careless as spilled milk. And that delineation between dark and light is a tear across the sky through which daytime falls, unencumbered. The new day. Fresh. Untouched. Like a virgin bride, dressed in white...

The Blue Jay’s Daughter: Commelina…Backwards, Part 5

Tuesday 3rd – Year of Elders, 1967 – The Village of Almado

My edges are blurring. I’ve been following the albinos, like a shadow. And I think I may be becoming one. Not an albino. A shadow. But they make me sure of myself. Unlike the water. I daren’t look in it anymore. It should have ended when Commelina stopped disappearing. It hasn’t. Last time I looked, I was an old woman, older even than my nana. Wretched of face, with great lines ploughed beneath the eyes, around the mouth. No laughter t...