It was a very good night. Apologies for overrunning the time. Thanks to everyone who came and to Katy Darby and Claire Lacey for bringing the stories to life. Couldn’t have done any of it without the support of Liars’ League and Brent Libraries.
The Willesden Short Story Prize 2022 was revealed at Willesden Library this evening. First prize went to “Hotline” byZakia Uddin (left).
Runners-up were “Vevey” by Catherine McNamara and “Cuckquean” by Jackie Morris.
Thanks to Claire Lacey and Katy Darby for bringing the stories to life and making the event go with a zing.
Thanks to Jarred McGinnis for judging and to the writers of all ten shortlisted stories, as every one is a prize-winner in this short story competition. (Ed.)
A MONTH OF SUNDAYS
The only time I'm with you is when you're not here.
Oh never let me see you, let's never meet again.
I can live for eternity on a dismal weekend
But time goes too fast in heaven.
MS TUESDAY MUNDY, MOTHER OF TWO
Bright sun with dark clouds before thunder.
A long labour with twin girls on a Sunday,
First in sunlight, then in rain. No wonder
She called them Gloria and Dolores Mundy.
EVERY TIME IS THE LAST EVER
"We know not the hour"
How many more times will I walk downstairs
and what last things have I already seen?
The day before the night, the last round of the clock.
The year I went home, never to see Dublin again.
Our last Christmas dinner: that was it, no leftovers.
L’chaim! When we met in the pub in twenty-eighteen,
We shared those last embraces before the pandemic.
And the last poem I ever wrote, well is this it?
Photo: Bathmat towel with a random thread that looks like the number 78 on it.
SHTISEL SAID IT ALL
Nobody's dead, it's okay.
The people who made you
are in you. And those you knew,
whose folks were in them too,
came into you as well.
And the crowd of you mingled
into the crowd of them,
Late arrivals ringing, appeared
and oh the reunions,
the smiles, the sorrys,
and the laughter.
Photo: The Bohemian Society, Dublin. My grandfather Peter Moran is seen in profile, seated on the right. I don’t know who the others are or the date, possibly late 1930s.
LAST DAY, FINAL REDUCTIONS
Wake up to
A bubble in my ear.
And in my other ear.
Sit.
A gap under the door.
The idea of a mouse exhausts me.
My attitude is no good.
My skin is no good.
My history is no good.
My character is no good.
My personality is no good.
My behaviour is no good.
My poetry is no good.
I am no good.
Make a note.
Photo: Mothercare store closed (Harrow, June 2022). Handwritten signs on the windows say “Last Day” and “Final reduction” .
I’ll be popping in to read for a few minutes as a guest poet before the main act. I’ll bring copies of my book and sign them for you, unless you would like one of the rare unsigned ones. (The old jokes are the best.)
June 12th – Judi Sutherland reading from her new pamphlet ‘Following Teisa’ introduced by Pauline Sewards. Here’s the Facebook event link:
THE MISSING STEP
If I think of a poem
as I take the next step
on the stairs of my home,
I will fall to my death
and you'll never have known
that I loved you the best,
because I lost that poem
when I missed the next step.
Photo: Traditional eve of Mayday bouquet on doorstep
Stephen Moran's Museum of Illusions 
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