
The Party
The problem was how to kill them.
There were many possibilities.
With a rough, heavy stone
or a small, sharp knife
pushed deep through the skull.
Investigating the life of things across space and time
The problem was how to kill them.
There were many possibilities.
With a rough, heavy stone
or a small, sharp knife
pushed deep through the skull.
The old fart in Room 17 is becoming a problem. He does it even when his wife’s on the terrace, sweating, counting her rosaries. Clack-clack. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Ah, Mamma, what would you say if you could see me now? Four stringy children and a fat pig of a husband who belches triumphantly after every meal and snores all night. Clack-clack-clack.
For I am Black Lie and I purr rumbling low. I growl hard when you touch me and when you retreat. I walk softly and I am to be followed.
Rewrite of Clara H. Scott’s 1895 hymn, Open my eyes, that I may see , a favourite opening anthem for seances at Rockingham Castle in the 1930s. My version emphasises the house as a haunted body.
Sarah Gillett is an artist and writer from Lancashire, UK.
She currently lives in London.