YeahWrite Category
My Father’s Hands (nonfiction)
Posted on November 9, 2020 13 Comments
In my memory, my father’s hands are large. His sturdy fingers, the columns that hold up the Parthenon roof, the pillars that secure the world on the turtle’s back, that hold me as I swing between him and my mother when we walk down the street together. His palms span wide enough to encompass mine, […]
Climbing trees
Posted on August 12, 2020 8 Comments
Mulberry trees stand in two corners of my mother’s garden. In summer, the garden becomes a minefield littered with incendiary devices waiting for a mistimed step, a careless footfall. Splatters of pink-purple cover the driveway, the outlines of shoes and bare feet silhouetted on the concrete. Though resplendent with their purple jewels every year, their […]
The King’s Ransom
Posted on August 3, 2020 4 Comments
I hold him up at arm’s length, an offering to the gods, a tribute. He gurgles and squeals, wriggling in my arms. The sun kisses, then stings us. Beneath, his shadow wriggles along with him. I shudder, without a dark echo. That was the price for our freedom. Image credit: Photo by Riccardo Farinazzo on Unsplash
Monday’s Child
Posted on June 25, 2020 7 Comments
Monday is born into a full family.One Standard Issue Dad™,One slightly dented, but still good Mum,Two broken-limbed brothers, and one sullen but loving sister.
Run through the jungle
Posted on April 23, 2020 11 Comments
Betrayal is a frightening jungle where monsters of self-doubt lurk.
The Prophet
Posted on April 16, 2020 3 Comments
I take a left at the end of my street and turn down a barely used laneway. I’m trying to avoid people, trying to maintain social distance, or physical distance, or whatever the latest pandemic catchphrase is. Hardly anyone comes down this way. I know this from walking the dogs. In the daytime, the odd […]
Roots
Posted on April 6, 2020 5 Comments
A golden thread runs between my mother’s garden and mine. Earth beneath fingernails carries legacy and heritage.
The conversion of cat people
Posted on February 6, 2020 6 Comments
There hadn’t been a dog in our family in my living memory. When I was a baby, there was Johnny – a pure bred bitser[1], a beast of the most patchwork genealogy possible, a hotchpotch of canine genetics that tested the limits of hybrid vigour. But he was a myth, a legend, a story drawn from […]
Maintain the rage
Posted on February 3, 2020 3 Comments
“We’re tired,” he said. “We’ve faced 30 metre walls of flame. Seen fire skip breaks, hop highways, leap rivers.” “We tried to warn you,” they said. “A year ago. More.” ‘Unprecedented’, the lone beacon among weasel words that shift the blame. Will outrage stay lit another two years? Image credit: Image by Daniel Zuflucht from Pixabay
Asha Rajan 