She has strong features: high cheekbones, powerful jaw. She is tall and has an athletic build. She sits in front of the piece she is working on. It is too big for an easel so she has pinned it to the wall, next to another unfinished piece. Her back is turned to the door, where […]
moreWhat, I wondered, makes this pianist so good? I closed my eyes and listened to the music, without feeling particularly sad or touched or happy. In fact, nothing of the sort. Still, the music that left her fingers had me engaged. I was entirely absorbed while listening.At one stage a voice in my mind whispered, […]
moreA 5-year old girl crosses the street. She wears a school uniform: a black tunic and purple vest. In the country I live, nobody wears school uniforms. Only kids that go to a private, British school.She does not speak our language. But we speak hers. The children her age don’t though. Should I pity her? […]
moreA big window separates me from a street I used to walk through, every morning. And no longer do. It rains on the other side. Shades of grey. A fat woman exits that street. She wears black. Black leggings that leave only a short piece of skin between her calf and her sneakers uncovered. Black […]
more“The beast is moving,” said a friend. Somehow, I remembered it as “the beast is unleashed.” It moves, it is unleashed. That beast.Shakespeare once wrote that jealousy is a green-eyed monster. If jealousy is a monster, then ego is a beast. Once unleashed, it will roam around and destroy everything it sees for fear of […]
moreMy dear friend, you do not know Autumn? You have not seen leaves fall from the trees, float on water, in the sky, fly high, only to die?Have you never felt the fear of winter run down your spine, the deception of time, the window to a world in decline. A photo that catches you […]
moreAngry little girl. You throw a punch, pull a backpack off a classmate's shoulders. You don't tickle but poke. And you bite your lip in fury."Hello little girl, how are you?"You sit on your little chair, little girl. The seats next to you remain empty. You lean on the palms of your hands which you […]
moreShe is 26. She grins when I tell her how much I enjoyed a certain performance. It was spectacular, an intoxicating explosion of rhythm, and song, and dance and drama, and even more drama, which had me jumping out of my chair and exclaiming: bravo! Bravo! She nods and simultaneously shrugs her one shoulder. “You didn’t […]
moreMight I ask, oh mister storyteller, whether you woke up happy? Overjoyed, maybe? Because it is Sunday. The day you have been waiting for all week. The day you gently pull your costume of it’s hook. It’s own hook. You don’t store it in the cupboard, next to all your other clothes, the ones you […]
moreRules. There are so many of them. Especially when parenting. Not only are there rules you have to teach your child, there are you also rules you as a parent are to adhere to. Some are easier to apply to yourself than others. I find the hardest rule this one: never publically express your true […]
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