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Notes from a dry island
I would love to sit and write something. But. It’s just so damn hot. So hot, so suffocating, I can’t really think straight. Had some words in mind; now they’ve evaporated. Tried to focus my eyes on the page of a book and end up reading the same sentence over and over. It is so […]
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Egypt
I couldn’t say why, but Egypt never really topped my bucket list. Of course, like anyone, I thought of someday seeing the pyramids in a very abstract way. But when my best friend, and North Africa specialist, Lauren Keith, was sent there to update the new Fodor’s guide to Egypt, I knew I had a […]
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The longest night, sunrise
7:19 am. I have been awake for an hour under the duvet. I woke before 6:30 anticipating the alarm, which I set last night in the hope of watching the first sunrise after the winter solstice from the top of Blythe Hill Fields. What a wave of optimism that was — I cannot be pried […]
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The Gate
I wrote this piece as my final essay for Dark Mountain’s Finding the Words When the Story is Over writing workshop, which took place in March 2021. I submitted it to several literary journals but no one wanted it, so the editor of this website decided to publish it now. As the second coming of […]
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The Fifth of November
You somehow areevery step on fallen leafeach rumbling carand crosswalkevery corner pubcoffeeshop benchand football ground at duskthe sound of approaching trainsand unplayed gigs.Every colour of London is you.
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About Afghanistan
The place that I have dreamed about and wished to go more than any other is Afghanistan. My great concern with my life’s work has always been about seeing the world and describing it for other people. I come from a landlocked, remote part of the United States. I went to high school in an […]
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Writing for your worth
It takes me a good, hearty exhale to start writing a post like this. I have been thinking about it all day. Ruminating on it over morning emails. Having conversations about it in my head during an afternoon walk. Discussing it with my best friend over text. In my life, I really have had no […]
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Shoulder-of-Mutton Hill
Saturday. It is supposed to be hot – well, hot by English standards, but when you are used to cool weather, 27 feels hot – and I am going in search of the poet Edward Thomas. It’s not the first time. Midsummer 2019, I went in search of the footpaths of Edward Thomas and his […]