Mermaid By Carol Coiffait

She swam beyond the realms of possibility Lazed her days away in chilly pride With such utter equanimity, that the North Wind blew her back into hot water. Well, she was her Mother's daughter In a Pacific, non-specific sort of way And she craved the lick of an ice-berg At least once every twenty eight days. Her fishy ancestry fought like a beast For mastery of hormones, in a once Bifurcated tail and a South-Westerly gale Was only partial sublimation.

Every porpoise and seal and occasional Whale, provoked her to gross penis-envy And a bladder-wrack deal or the feel Of a cod's whisker was never, ever enough. Not for her the fishbone comb and abalone Glass on a rock off the Skerries or Filey Brig. That was all very well for her amateur sisters With faces like pigs .. They would settle for any stray yachtsmen Adrift on the tide or spewing day-trippers On a 'Round the Bay' ride. Not her. She yearned for a pirate, a sailor of note

With a beard and an earring and a growl In his throat, who would run her and play her, Win her by guile and warm her cold breasts With his coarse woollen smile. He would pinch her pale cheeks And persuade her to sing, While Neptune wept pearls At her undoing. Then her sailor'd de-scale her With his Jim Bowie knife Fashion feet from her flippers And slit open - a wife.

Copyright © Carol Coiffait 2004 Photographs courtsey and Copyright © Andy Hogben

Europe, UK, Poetry - Shingle Street By Carol Coiffait

	Of course the waves help She uses them for lift-off. Out, past where they break She waits for the seventh one See, it's bigger than all the rest. She leaps astride her boneless horse And it lifts and flings her beach wards. Read more...

Europe, UK, Poetry - SINGING THE SPRING By Carol Coiffait

	Be quick, be quick, be quick. The thrush in May has no time for sorrow. It sings in the wind on the only tree left clinging to the ruined cliff. Hawthorn, briar and furze, salt-bitten grass, have all let go to slide beach wards- whole allotments Read more...

Europe, UK, Poetry - Between The Lines By Carol Coiffait

	Between the need for nicotine and a trip upstairs, I forget what it is I wanted to say. Between the wine and coffee I forget who I am and slip inside your skin, your country, breathe mountain air, taste honey Read more...

Europe, UK, Poetry - HERRING GULL By Carol Coiffait

	The wind is an artist. It turns the pages indicating which words I should use. The silent blackbird and the loud-mouthed gull are artists too. They give me words for movement, for appearances and disappearances. Read more...

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Sports Football - Sunday League 4th Jan 2004 HASSG Lions and Qandil 6 - Malt Shovel FC 6.

	by Mo with 5 Video AVI's of The Game This week's match produced a bounty of goals for both sides along with a fair share of controversy and terrific spirited action. I met up with the Hassag Lions lads as usual in Pearson Park at 10 am, to be given the news that a Hull Daily Mail journalist and photographer were due to come along and write a piece on them. Read more...

Asia, Iraq, Food - Mixed Roasted Vegetables by Amy

	OK guys this is not an Iraqi Recipe, BUT EVERYONE LOVES IT! I give it ***** (five stars) Prep time approx 20-25 minutes. Bake 45 minutes. Ingredients 1 Eggplant, cut into chunks, 1 each red green and yellow peppers (red/yellow optional), chopped coursely, 1 onion cut into wedges and separated, 2 medium zucchini (or any green squash, or leave out entirely) chopped Read more...

Europe, News - Hull Kurds celebrate Saddam capture.
	It's Sunday evening in Hull, December 13th, 6 o'clock in the evening when I am interrupted from writing up my Sunday football report (I am following a Kurdish Sunday league football team) by a phone call from a friend, Heather. "I'm looking out of my window (Middleton Street, Hull) and seeing crowds of Kurdish young men dancing in the dimly ..". Read more...

Asia, Articles - Michael Standring killed for being a symbol of democracy

	by Peter Standring On the 12th of October I hope that you might to reflect on what the Bali bombing meant to some people. It is tempting for me to try make a point for the many thousands of individuals caught up in this and put it into to some geopolitical context. I have considered it best merely to give an honest, personal perspective. Read more...

South America, Articles - La Patagonie Argentine

Anne Levy La plupart d'entre vous le savent, sommes rentrés depuis bientôt trois semaines, avons bien sûr interrompu la canicule.Dès le lendemain de notre arrivée, un violent orage éclatait, il n'avait pas plu depuis 3 mois sur Marseille, la température tomba instantanément de 10 degrés. La presse même accueillit notre retour. Les faiseurs de pluie étaient rentrés, même chez eux, leur don restait intact. Lisez plus...