‘WHEN A BEE comes to your house, let her have beer: you may wish to repay the compliment one day.’ (Congolese proverb) Outer workers shiver their wings to heat the ball; inner and outer swap in shifts. The queen winters in the middle. Between combs is a patented bee space, just letting two bees pass […]

‘A GHOST WHO imitates the owl’s hoot has misunderstood the moonlight. The canny ghost gets hold of a sheet.’ On our side, seekers of asylum may find themselves in a cell of longing; on theirs, there’s an occasional mix-up over papers, or emotions may serve as a one-way shuttle, earthwards. Some punishment may also be […]

‘WINDOW TABLE COMPETITION IS a major cause of restaurant violence. Secure in our tenure, we gaze into each other’s eyes.’ Check for visual tunnels birds may imagine they can fly through. Keep your windows slightly dirty to emasculate reflections. After a burglary, angle a new window downwards – check first that your warranty won’t be […]

‘THAT WAS NO LIPSTICK: it was a chip she’d dipped in ketchup. A tiara would be the height of vulgarity.’ Imagine if her buckle spelled ‘Peace’ or bore the Toyota glyph unwittingly; or she named her daughter Toya. Not on your royal jelly! The palace is omniscient these days. Even the secret tattoo is chronicled […]

‘THERE IS NOTHING to be gained, not even justice, by putting on trial the moth that has eaten the tapestry. It warrants the same amnesty as a rust moth.’ Our own lives may seem crepuscular in the wisdom of a warm summer night. Yet the dust on Castaneda’s moth, loose on its powdery wing, is […]

‘LOOK BOTH WAYS before you cross yourself. Gaze first at the hills in the picture and then at the picture made by the hills.’ Eureka! The crackpot scientist brandishes his formula: seven shards of light at right angles to flowing water. Only by running around the back of his mind could he take his panoptic […]