The first spring day. An 18-year-old girl on a bike. She has dark skin, jet-black curly hair that shines and bounces as her bike leaps over bumps. She is sending someone a text message. Her iPhone is in a case which has hearts on it. She is smiling. Then she is hit by a car. […]
moreThe great thing about a coastline is you don’t have to worry about where you’re going. You can walk and walk, and when you’re fed up you simply turn around and walk back.You can plant your gaze a few meters in front of your feet and you’ll notice broken shells, piles of rotting seaweed that […]
moreHere’s the thing. You want to pack your little boy’s things because he’s going on a holiday. With his dad, your ex. A word you hate to use. “His dad” is almost just as bad. And you want to pack his toothbrush and his cuddly toy and a pyjama and underwear and sunscreen and bandaid […]
moreShe’s so lovely, isn’t she? Always smiling and helpful and interested and witty and reasonable and attentive and sensible and. And. She’s always helping others. Not really though, she isn’t actually. But clearly it’s what she’d want to be doing all the time. If it weren’t for the fact that there simply aren’t enough hours […]
moreA little heart pops up on the right side of my screen. Soon it will disappear under the mountain of new activity by other friends. My Friends. Why do I click? It’s a heart, that’s why. And so I click. And so I read: “Thanks everyone, as many of you know, we have buried our […]
moreA woman sweeps her balcony. There are no leaves on the trees, it is Winter. She glances over to an adjacent house, the house without curtains. The lady who lives there often sits in front of her laptop, eats a sandwich while working. Sometimes she dances and puts on music really loud. It’s always dramatic […]
moreSome people dream of wideopen spaces and fields of joy. Of starlit skies and blossom. While she finds herself trapped on a small wooden boat. It is a small boat that rocks and rolls on the erratic waves of a dark grey. An ocean in confusion, the currents not knowing which way to go, colliding […]
moreA guy stops me on the streets. I thought he wanted to ask the way.“Thank you sister,” he says. He explains that he is from Iraq. Then he speaks of how he is a refugee and had applied for a permit but the Dutch government hasn’t granted it. They are stricter on Iraqis now, he […]
moreThe car I borrowed gave up on me. I had left my celphone at home. I had gone to the beach. And then to the inlet for cargo ships. They loom up on the horizon and disappear into mainland, a canal swallows them, takes them away. It had been a crisp and sunny day. Now […]
moreThe man in the suit, yesterday. Drinks, suits, chit-chat, that kind of an event. A friendly, get to know eachother type thing. Then the man in the suit stepped forward, was introduced to us. He was the evening’s speaker. It took me a while to notice there was more to him than man-in-suit. He was […]
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