“Poet John Faust is suicidal. His benefits have been stopped without warning, the bailiffs are due to evict him, his dog is in the vets dying, his car needs a

“Let me take you back to 1996, when I sat alone in the back corner of Abu Shanab restaurant, a bustling hangout in the Old City. I was only twenty.

“It happened in flashes like a sequence of snapshots in a stop motion film because my mind blinked several times; blink — two hands on my chest shoving me to

“Every so often Mrs. Mehta dutifully waited to do her washing after Mrs. Chadha had finished hers and then emptied the frothy, soapy water in a happy whoosh over Mrs.

“Plucking a glass of champagne from a passing waiter, Lily was desperate for a cigarette, but none of the ladies were smoking. “Can you see my painting?” “There it is,

“None too bright in the head, that’s what they said of him, that’s what he thought they said, him standing there in the supermarket, on one foot and then the

“Some things you can see coming, like when sunlight fades, dusk falls, darkness rushes to pervade. It’s inevitable. Like Enoch’s rivers of blood, staining London streets in ’81, ’85, 2011;

“I will tell God everything The sharp metal pieces Taken out of my stomach Will all come with me” Extract from ‘The War Torn Child’ – included in the showcase

“I hate flying. I heaved my bag up into the luggage compartment and clambered into my seat. I had to tuck my legs in and half-stand up a couple of

“The second time I saw Lori I fell in love with her eyebrows. Lovely dark little dancers, arching like caterpillars above her brown doe eyes. They bent into the worry

“Girl ran down the stairs, out the front door and into the night. She ran between the pastel fronted houses whose flower plastered walls hid who knew what monsters, towards

“The curve of orange sun nudged the horizon and inched its way above the pea-green fields that quilted King’s County. Silhouetted against it, a young man crouched on a turn

“I open my eyes to see a Mexican wave of women dashing to their seats, each breathing a loud sigh of relief—except for Big Mama. She’s already slumped in her

“As soon as we leave the building he lights a cigarette and puffs hungrily. He sags against the wall, spent. I feel pretty much the same, overwhelmed on his behalf,

“This future life is unknown to you. Now at this moment you look up at your unmoving, silent waiting audience. You half-raise your left arm and reach for the cup

“The bird swooped down over them, landing a short distance away, near the dragon. They seemed to know each other, and stood nose to beak for a few seconds, making

“They pick me up from the police station in the early morning. I am not surprised to see them even though it is over a two hundred mile drive and

“A leap away from becoming ghost. She stood erect, her bathing floral suit, sugared marigolds, a petal cap. She knew it wouldn’t last.¡Saltá, mamá!—Jump. Extract from ‘Gnarl’ – included in

“Priest and wise-woman have left him alone with a man whose brothers are afeard to come near him and whose heriot, should he die, will be a five-toed cockerel. At

“The day it happened was a black day. I’d had a good run of late, but still get them sometimes. I’ve learnt to take action otherwise the malaise will fester, so