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.
Collecting
Things on the windowsill,
amongst books,
on the mantelpiece,
in a jewellery box,
on the desk,
in a wide flat bowl,
in a glass cabinet,
hanging in the studio.
Papier maché birds from India, 1880
Royal Crown Derby golden octopus
Syro-Hittite tomb bull
Shiva Lingam (stone) from India
Bronze female torso
Victorian wooden spinning top
Coral mounted on marble
Vine knot
Large ammonite
Fossilised sea urchin from Morocco
Desert rose from Andalucia, Spain
Meteor-struck moonlike paperweight
Tin mechanised fish swallowing fish
Victorian sawfish bill
Horseshoe crab shell
Fossilised megladon tooth
Old carved Brazil nut fruit(8 Brazil nut seeds inside)
Carved hare on burr
Swirled glass paperweight
Fossilised conch seashell
Ship in a Chanel bottle
Flint nodule creature
French cast iron cacao shell trinket box from Paris
Japanese Meiji bookweight in the shape of a dragon
1920s porcelain mermaid
Nautilus shell found on beach in Oman
A pair of painted lead giraffes
Sand paperweight
Fossilised sea anemone
Driftwood from Andalucia
Polished lapis lazuli
Crystal Palace paperweight
Old wood burr for veneering (olive)
I think you might like...
Cleaning
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.
Black Lie (2008-2012)
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.
Open my eyes
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.