I enter my other world where pain – a brutal sun – rises so slowly I hardly know its pointless orbit has begun Then – too late – it floods my landscape. Higher, harsher more violent rays find my soul and all dreams die I read more

In the league table of conditions migraine is low. It’s down there with depression,  fibromyalgia, ME etc. Novelists use it to explain female absences or backsliding: ‘She has one of her migraines,’ as though she could have anyone else’s. I hate them for it. When read more

Remembrance Sunday 2010 I remember the mothers The sisters, the wives, the daughters And … oh yes … The girlfriends. Certainly the girlfriendsleft alone with no claim(not even the same name) I remember their deserts of waitingTheir oceans of wondering if,When the bloody tide runs read more

Suffering is … Suffering is … Like a stone in a shoeOr grit in an oyster shellIt can become a blister orWith time and care a pearl On the other handIt can kill you. December 1995 in New Zealand