The House Has Collapsed on Itself (a short play)

Setting: In front of a collapsed house. Two men stand, facing each other. They are Bruno and Chas, old friends reunited. CHAS The house has collapsed on itself. BRUNO Yes. CHAS You never told me it was so old, and so badly kept up. BRUNO What’s to tell? All houses fall down eventually. CHAS True,

A Sail

“If I told you – oh forget it!” Clem was given to these volcanic stoppings and startings, an exasperating man to listen to, and a terrible storyteller. He was also my grandfather, but we had become more like brothers since getting stranded on the island. Like my real brothers, we quarreled a lot, but generally

Ono Eno Bono

(An errant poem makes its way into this miscellany. I promise not to make a habit of it.) Ono Eno Bono Ono Bono Eno Eno Ono Bono Bono Eno Ono Eno Bono Ono Bono Ono Eno

Hell Ship

(Here’s a little sequel to Moby Dick. Much shorter than that tome, and with less whale lore.) The sea grew calm. For a long time it had seemed to be fighting with itself and with the sky, the horizon torn asunder between them and screaming. I had clung to my coffin like a spider to its

The General In His Labyrinth

When We Were Very Young I don’t remember a time when the General didn’t seem ancient. His grizzled face always had that same look, limpid eyes floating like luminous moons over a craggy landscape. A person who had seen too much, maybe even before escaping from the crib. When we were small, the General would

Uncle Harold

Here’s one pretty obviously inspired by Roald Dahl: Uncle Harold came from the time before Europe was unified under one currency; the time before terrorism made it necessary to take off your shoes and then put them on again at every international border; before anorexia had supplanted hysteria, before moustaches had given way to chest