from the collection by Rob Walker, published in September 2018
ISBN (paperback) 978-1-925536-62-1
ISBN (eBook) 978-1-925536-63-8
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“We monks don’t go near females. Especially not young and lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?” from Tolerance
The Girl fell to her knees, assumed the foetal position like some monster embryo pummelled unconscious by this hard rain. from Bo Peep
and the giggling schoolgirls in the skirts they’ve hitched up are old enough to be loud and confident in a group and very aware of their budding sexuality but not yet wary or disillusioned like the Men in Suits who fantasize about highschool girls in short dresses on trains. from lines written on the train between Himeji and Shirahama
‘Christ,’ said Norm. ‘I’ve been electrocuted.’ Immediately his reflection replied but you survived… from Mirror
The surface had changed. It was reticulated, like a snake’s back or a crocodile. Then he heard the cry of a newborn baby. Impossible. He put his fingers over the edge of the wharf and jumped off. from The River
The apartment was dark and silent except for a soft squawk from Mimi the family dodo. Milton usually worked @ nite. He wandered down to the kitchen, the very word one of extreme embarrassment to his children. from The Question
the other poets ignore her, embarrassed. dictionaries with hair. / bower birds of words. after all, she’s had her turn. from crying at the poetry reading
Dying hadn’t been half as bad as Zachary expected. from Running out of Time
‘Take me with you’ she said. ‘I’ll try harder, I promise.’ from Your Life ©
I have been listening to the train-driver for the name of my station, Shirahama… The station names come up in his unintelligible spiel as little lifeboats in a sea of incomprehension. from lost in trainstation
At the mention of ‘Water Restrictions’ she went into cardiac arrest – an arrest from which, sadly, she never recovered. from Border Dispute
There’s a small knot of them there. All middle-aged men with grey hair and skin to match. The students are safely locked in. Only late-arrivals will see their teachers drinking in the furtive smoke. from The Cigarette
I have no doubt Neville had his way with the little strumpet. If she were here now I’d be tempted to bring one of my pieces down on her thin skull, crack! like an almond shell… from Through a glass, darkly
I had a funny call the other day. / He said you don’t know me. I’d like a few minutes of your time. I’m not trying to sell you anything. Just give me two minutes, ok? from cold caller
Mr Vanehouse had pulled his head down into his worn tweed jacket and was hunching his shoulders as if that bullet was still whistling past his left ear. from Mr Vanehouse
Then came the more curious part. Initially they became a little less vivid – less depth-of-field, less colour. Then they became imperceptibly transparent or translucent. from The New Disappearers
As a surgeon wears a gown, so The Electrician wasn’t fully-dressed for work until he stripped to his bare skin. from Electrician
“Avenue”. Sposeta have trees aren’t they? Like Les Grands Avenues in Paris. Tree- lined. I can’t remember one fuckn tree in Kitson Avenue. Just tiny red-brick Housing Trust homes. from Toppin’ y’self
Matthew’s kind eyes look down when Linds first gets the blinding headache and the partial paralysis. They look on kindly after the diagnosis of gioblastoma… from Holding on
… she slowly removes the tight pants, easing them down over her pressed-together knees and calves until the garment sits on the deck, a sloughed skin around one ankle. Then she kicks it lightly to join its upper-half mate, both floating and pulsing amoeba-like around the cabin. from Correction
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