NORTHERN IRELAND
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Down the Shankill
Before moving to Spain, I visited my birth country. Portadown, N. Ireland and then Belfast, to see my biological father. He was a gardener. His wife died. I got an old worker´s hat from her father. World War I. We walked the Shankill. Here is the journey. From my novel Never Mind the Beasts. Available… Read more
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NEVER MIND THE BEASTS OPENING
Never Mind the Beasts, an experimental working class novel, begins in Portadown, N. Ireland, with my biological father, The Troubles, in one way or another, and then the move to London, first a homeless hostel, and then later Milton Keynes, with government social housing. It begins in the 1974 and then moves into the 80s,… Read more
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ON FATHERS
“My step father grew up in Warrington, he joined the British Army. A way out. Northern Ireland. He married my mother. In Bletchley, we went to the swimming pool. Hot chocolate, in the plastic cup, from the machine. I’ll give you a pound if you go down the slide he said. In London, in the… Read more
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Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Las Vegas, 1985, maybe August. I am a newly arrived immigrant in the United States of America. First Vallejo in a trailer park and then Las Vegas. Also, from a few years previously, a new religion, Mormonism. I was almost 12. On the border of puberty with a funny accent from Northern Ireland. Do… Read more
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BEST BRITISH POETRY 2015
Have a poem in Best British Poetry 2015. Inspired by Alan Watts and the earth. It’s called “The Underground.” Originally published in Lighthouse magazine. Thanks Emily Berry. Read more
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BLUE LIGHT SPECIALS AND PLACENTAS
A short excerpt From my recently finished novel NEVER MIND THE BEASTS. Will be sending it out to publishers/agents soon. Fingers crossed. Never Mind the Beasts is a 1985 coming-of-age story of Henry, a recent immigrant from Portadown, N. Ireland. Told in the style of vignettes, we move inside the mind of Henry as he… Read more
