Math Bird's Blog: Westside of the Dee, page 2

Odd Histories of the Greenfield Valley - sonnet 3

Sarah Jane HarveyText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedA quiet eighty-five-year-old widowHer husband poisoned by Courtaulds‘ ChemicalsWaits in a ward that’s sun-sliced with shadowFor a son’s visit, that often proves stressful.Earlier that day, he spring-cleaned her housePainted the skirting, dusted the crockeryUnlocked the airing cupboard - out of boundsAnd was shocked when he found a mummified body.Sarah identified the mummy as Mrs Frances Night A payi...

An Unlikely Muse: Inspiration from the Ordinary

Ever since my early teens, when I first became aware of it, I’ve always struggled with the notion of The Muse. For me, it was as inaccessible as it was cliched. It conjured up images of unshaven, greasy-haired, tortured writers drinking whisky and chain-smoking cigarettes while waiting for divine inspiration. Sadly, I bought into it for a while. I was young, foolish and impressionable, desperate to be seen as a writer, live the writer’s life, and do the things writers were supposed to do. 

Thankf...

Odd Histories of the Greenfield Valley - sonnet 2

EmlynText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedAn old blind man that sold you water coldCould read your face with hands bleached by stoneA chilling touch that settled in your bonesA life of mining lead made his sight bolt.The same grey dread that kept the soil unclothedWas ferried down lagoons on tiny boats To Greenfield’s Wharf where the English approachedA payload of tourists half-heartedly coaxed.To ‘water-houses’, white-washed and stilted Dressed up in ...

Odd Histories of the Greenfield Valley - sonnet 1

MeurigText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedA twelfth-century monk - decides to resthis eyes shut to the valley's watered rushbeneath the mill’s lank shadows, he is blessedits turn of wheel flowing through his blood.On rising, the abbey’s ruin takes his breath,a melt of dead stones churning up his guts,a stench from coppered stilts makes him retchas raw-boned faces call him to their husks.So, dumbstruck by the valley’s new languageit’s in the church w...

The Waiting Writer: Creativity and the Virtue of Patience

Most of us know the classic fable 'The Tortoise and the Hare'1. In the story, a swift and self-assured hare makes fun of the slow-moving tortoise, leading to a challenge to race. Confident in his speed, the hare quickly outpaces the tortoise and, certain of his impending victory, decides to take a nap midway through. Meanwhile, the tortoise, undeterred, continues forward at a slow and steady pace. The hare awakes only to discover that the tortoise, moving slowly but without pause, has already cr...

Starlings

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedPast the Well Hill’s slope of houses,like secret lives, the glossed birds hidefamiliar songs carried out to waters,settling with those flecks of promise,heckling with the tide.A path of leaves, dusty, trodden flat,that widens through a slant of treesthat was once a railroad track, that’s nowa ‘Greenfield Valley’ walk and here,with guileless hope,I kick through these spills of russet,dig deep beneath melts of sno...

10 Reasons Why People Drive over the Speed Limit

1. A passenger, perhaps a mother, brother or lover, keeps changing from sweetness to sour.

2. A voice on their mobile phone is their future self, telling them to get a move on. Time is running out.

3. The music they play thickens the beat of their heart.

4. They didn’t see the signs, their eyes lost in someone else’s worry.

5. Like the rest of us, they found themselves stuck in the middle.

6. The body proved it had a mind of its own.

7. Some rules are there to be broken.

8. You have to keep up with the...

Witches Copse (enhanced Audio version)

1979, the Winter of Discontent, and Elizabeth Daton is a gun for hire whose career is brought to a shuddering halt when a job leaves a young girl in hospital.

But when renowned barrister Quentin Quinby offers her a chance for redemption by asking her to travel to a remote Welsh village and escort an acquaintance of his back to London from the ominous Witches Copse, Daton jumps at the chance.

Little does she know that what begins as a seemingly straightforward errand will soon plunge her into a ter...

Witches Copse (enhanced Audio version)

Dates travels to a remote village in the northeastern corner of Wales with a specific mission, but she’s unsure what to expect. Upon meeting Eves and Casey, she starts piecing together the story. However, she quickly realizes that it's much more complicated than she expected. Every new piece of information leads to more questions, and her simple errand quickly spirals into a complex mystery. Dates is left wondering what secrets lie within the ominous Witches Copse.

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Witches Copse (enhanced Audio Version)

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