Now incorporating The Sudbury Hill Harrow and Wherever End Times

Monday, November 29, 2021

Petticoat Lane, London, c.1900 (film)

Wonderful scenes down Petticoat Lane market in the East End of London, circa 1900. Does that sort of joy even exist anymore? (Ed.)

Sunday, November 28, 2021

Tim Berners-Lee Cried

The DotCom’s connected to the WordPress
The WordPress ’s-connected to the Facebook
The Facebook’s connected to the MySpace
Now fear the bulletin board

The MySpace ’s-connected to the WayBack
The WayBack’s connected to the NewsNet
The NewsNet's connected to the Archive
Now fear the bulletin board

Dem zones, dem zones, dem wry zones
Dem moans, dem moans, them shy moans
Dem groans, dem groans, dem sly groans
Now fear the bulletin board

The Archive’s connected to the Lib-’ry
The Lib-’ry’s connected to the Psal-ters
The Psalters connected to the Bi-ble
Now fear the bulletin board

The Bible’s connected to the proph-ets
The prophets connected to Ezekiel
Ezekiel’s connected to the toe bone
Now fear the bulletin board

Dem bones, dem zones, dem shy moans
Dem knowns, dem pomes, dem high tones
Dem’s flown, dem’s gone, dem’s by-gones
Now fear the bulletin board
Now surf the web of the Lord

--

Stephen Moran

Saturday, November 27, 2021

Short Story of the Month, December 2021

Not much sign of mystical religious experience in contemporary short stories, is there? We are here to remedy that with another unusual story of the month. Prepare to be conveyed to the boundary between the here and now and the ineffable beyond. Ed.
The Willesden Herald Short Story of the Month

December 2021: Not Like a River, But a Tree by James Roderick Burns

“Seated again, he closed his eyes. Now and then he had sampled High Anglican services (had, in fact, dragged along both Maureen and the children) where the priest broke out the censer, smoking the pews like a beekeeper gently rousing his charges, but he preferred things here in the cathedral: high enough, quite solemn to be sure, but musical and slightly imperfect; human, somehow, and all the better for it. Sometimes he’d invited people from the office."

James Roderick Burns
James Roderick Burns’ short story collection, Beastly Transparencies, is due from Eyewear Publishing in 2022. He is the author of three collections of poetry – most recently The Worksongs of the Worms (2018, haiku) – and a short fiction pamphlet, A Bunch of Fives. His work has appeared in a number of journals and magazines, including The Guardian, Modern Haiku, The North and The Scotsman.