Tall tales, old friends, and stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things

 … one thing is for certain: we all love a good story. As they say in Arabic, and as is said in all languages in all times and places, “ka-n ya ma ka-n bil ‘adim izzama-n wa sa-lifi al aSri  wa la-wa-n”‘ or, “there was, oh yes, there was, in the oldest of days and ages and times”. And the taller the story, the more unlikely the yarn, the better we appreciate it. During the closing scenes of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, the journalist says: “This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend”.  From: All along the long white road

• No Bull – beefy ballads
• Roman Holiday – The Perils of a Poet  in Nero’s Rome
• Lilith – a poem  of The Fall by Meniscus Diabetes
• Small Stories – A Tale of Twin Pines
• Small Stories – the schools of the Tarkeeth 
• Small Stories – Crossing the South Arm
• The Monarch of the Sea  
• The Odyssey of Assid Corban
• John Cleverley’s Long March
• A Parting Glass – farewell to an old friend
• Dermott’s Last Ride
• Yuri The Storyteller
• No Going Home – the refugee’s journey (1)
• Hejira – the refugee’s journey (2)
• Dark Deeds in a Sunny Land – a poet’s memorial to a forgotten crime