Category: Creativity

Alternative Gilly

Mr Chandrasekhar’s top of the range Mahindra scattered the stones in the car park. I guided the roller in his direction and called out a greeting, touching my cap respectfully as always, “नमस्कार महोदय, आप कैसे हैं  ?”

He grinned and winked, replying – “नमस्ते गिली, हार्ड काम करते हो ? … and  I must say your Hindi accent is improving; well done!”

We strolled together to the clubhouse, reviewing the arrangements for the match against the touring team on Saturday.   He lowered himself into a deck-chair on the veranda and sighed.   “I may have to miss the match.   I shall probably have to fly back home tomorrow; the riots are getting worse and I need to arrange protection for my family.   Why do all you Christians cause so much trouble all the time?” Continue reading “Alternative Gilly”

8th poetry compo – results

Africa

Submission time for this period’s competition has come and gone.

The rules weren’t too taxing, any genre to include at least one African place name or personality.

We had three entries and I enjoyed each and every one (as I always do.)

Araminta’s submission continued the woes of Monty Mouse and his holiday plans, I do enjoy the trials and tribulations of poor old Monty, thank you Ara keep ’em coming.

Bearsy submitted a very clever piece on financial fraudsters leaving even close family members destitute. It reminded me of close friends of my parents who were left in a similar situation back in the ’80’s, they lost almost everything, thank you Bearsy, I love it when these competitions make us sit up and think.

Christophertrier submitted a haunting entry on post colonial Africa, will things get better? Christopher doesn’t tell us but I’d like to think so.

And the winner is….

Christopher, congratulations, over to you for the next one!

DECISION TIME – can wait no longer

The photo competition closed officially yesterday lunchtime, but given the fact that OZ had said he would be posting something and is currently suffering Lupine Influenza I thought I’d give him some leeway.

Sadly he has not posted, and the number of photos submitted remains low: only four this time.

(Have I somehow jinxed it all by setting such defined parameters? Maybe it was the time frame? (I had said only photos taken during the period of the competition – was that too harsh)

Anyway, Continue reading “DECISION TIME – can wait no longer”

March Confidential winner

Thanks to everybody for the excellent wide-ranging batch of stories. Reading them all in one go instead of the usual when they’re published way is rewarding indeed. A word of commiseration to granviller for missing out at the last moment.

Bearsy notwithstanding, it was funny reading the interpolations (hark at me) of the word snake into your scripts. In hindsight I wished I’d made it giraffes. Some other time, perhaps and furthermore maybe they’ll make a film called Giraffes on a Plane. Right, down to business. Continue reading “March Confidential winner”

Spring Fever for O Zangado

Spring Fever

I know where the ivy climbs
while lords and ladies
drop in from the fields
and rambling brambles
with nettles entangle.

I notice the goosegrass
clambering through
the Japanese Quince
and see the forget-me-nots
competing with peony shoots.

And I smile wearily
at the dandelions
(with their long tap roots)
as they grin at me knowingly
from their position of strength.

But from where I sit
with the scent of the Daphne drifting
over me I see tulips and cherry blossom
lit up in the Spring sunshine.
I pull on the gardening gloves.

This year I will win.
It has only just begun.
This year a little at a time
the battle between nature
and nurture will be mine.

PS this is not new, only lightly pruned, so it may not qualify for OZ poetry competition

Cutting & Pasting (gerund-wise)

In  2006 The Iconclast writing for The New English Review published an article on his web page with the exciting title , ‘Breaking news – English has a gerundive‘.  I came across the article following a challenge to one of my comments on a  MyT post from ‘beanbeab (stefa)’.  This was some few years back, and I was always happy to have my use of English  corrected by the now sadly departed and greatly missed beanbean.  As I’m sure she suspected, my knowledge of the gerund (and I suspect that of most other people) was non existent.  Either that, or buried in some long unopened memory vault.  Nevertheless, my fleeting contact with beanbean did revitalise my interest in the English language.  An interest that I now avidly pursue.  In a recent parody  I composed based on ‘Sea Fever by John Masefield’ , the following line became a real test for a bear of very little brain:-


“I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide” Continue reading “Cutting & Pasting (gerund-wise)”