Noon: Stories and poems from Solstice Shorts Festival 2018

By Cherry Potts

Everyone thinks of noon as being a split second as the clock's hands draw together, the bell tolls twelve times - but there is so much more to it than that - Solar noon happens as much as half an hour either side of what the clock tells you, deadlines are met, or passed, shadows vanish, vampires hide - or do they? Stories and Poems from 2018's Solstice Shorts festival, read live in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Ynys Mon, Carlisle, London and Cork on the stroke of... or nearly, Noon.

Featuring stories from Barbara Renel, Clare Shaw, Diana Powell, Elaine Hughes, Karen Ankers, Karen Boissonneault-Gauthier, Liam Hogan, Lily Peters, Marka Rifat, Patience Mackarness, Roppotucha Greenberg, Su Yin Yap;

and poems from Alison Gerhard, Alison Lock, Anne Elizabeth Bevan, Catriona Yule, Elinor Brooks, Gareth Culshaw, Graham Burchell, Ian Grosz, Jane Aldous, Laila Sumpton.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arachne Press
• Release date: Mar 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9781909208704

Book preview

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First published in UK 2019 by Arachne Press Limited

100 Grierson Road, London SE23 1NX

www.arachnepress.com

© Arachne Press Limited

ISBNs:

print: 978-1-909208-69-8

ePub: 978-1-909208-70-4

mobi/kindle: 978-1-909208-71-1

The moral rights of the authors have been asserted.

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form or binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Except for short passages for review purposes no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Arachne Press.

Thanks to Muireann Grealy for her proofing.

Printed on wood-free paper in the UK by TJ International, Padstow.

#Noon © Su Yin Yap 2019

A Vampire at Noon © Patience Mackarness 2019

After Hours © Stuart McKenzie 2019

An Autumn Noon © Ian Grosz 2019

Angelus at Noon © Patricia McCaw 2019

Arthur Streeton Advises his Students © Mandy Macdonald 2019

By the Obelisk Sundial, Drummond Castle © Jane Aldous 2019

Farewell my Father © Anne Elizabeth Bevan 2019

Fire at Midday © Susan Cartwright-Smith 2019

High Noon © Marka Rifat 2019

I am not Beautiful at Noon © Elinor Brooks 2019

Jackdaw © Elaine Hughes 2019

Mad Dogs and English Men © Laila Sumpton 2019

Moon Jellyfish © Ness Owen 2019

Mother Hand © Karen Ankers 2019

Noon Child Unknown © Diana Powell 2019

Noon Son © Alison Lock 2019

Noon Talk © Graham Burchell 2019

On Kings and Falling © Roppotucha Greenberg 2019

On the First Calculation of the Circumference of the Earth

© Alison Gerhard 2019

Pocket Watch © Catriona Yule 2019

precarious © Michelle Penn 2019

Still No Name © Marika Josef 2019

Sun Beats over New Orleans © Natalie Gasper 2019

Toast Crumbs © Karen Boissonneault-Gauthier 2019

Twelve o’Clock from the House © Nicholas McGaughey 2019

Under the L © Liam Hogan 2019

Unleashed © Paul Foy 2019

Up on the Roof © Lily Peters 2019

Veranda © Clare Shaw 2019

Winter Ritual © Sara Elgerot 2019

Winter Solstice © Gareth Culshaw 2019

Woman and Child © Barbara Renel 2019

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Contents

Poems

Stories

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Farewell My Father

Anne Elizabeth Bevan

The voice of my father reached me

From the height of the salt water spray,

Glancing the rocks with his simple accent,

More distant now than in my childhood;

I listened