I wrote this back in 2014 as I was working on the beginning of the novel still titled "The Page". This work carried on over the following five years, and should have been completed here in Berlin, but was not. Some 40,000 words later, it lays still, unfinished and unedited. Should I take another look? … Continue reading Moi, Gabrielle, historienne #WritersWednesday
Berlin
Partir?
How to leave the city? Setting aside the why (perhaps one day?) how is the question. Maybe the correct answer is: we don't, ever, we may be elsewhere, but our minds and hearts stay here. Maybe we'll reminisce, as Frederick writing to Voltaire, much, much later (in fact many wars and forty years later) … Continue reading Partir?
On the streets #Berlin #January
Still remnants of the past Sylvester and dead Christmas trees litter the streets, grey the walls, sad the dogs, only the crows find cause to rejoice. Sparrows sing, in the cold bushes. The city, lost in a dream, lets the clowns speak, ignores the lies: she's heard many others. Yet Spring will come, and … Continue reading On the streets #Berlin #January
Being there, or here? #fivewords
Weekly Writing Prompt #177 leaf, home, alter, light, front There, she knew well, it was her home, her friends, where she'd met him. Here, was another leaf, both of them now almost past the light, an alter-life she did not understand, even feared a little, however familiar she was with the language, the everyday words. … Continue reading Being there, or here? #fivewords
Am Nordufer
Our paths crossed, again, as I was walking along the canal on a silent Sunday morning of mid November. The temperature had dropped overnight but was not yet at freezing point. The little man greeted me with a toothy smile, to which I politely responded. I knew of him for one of the multitude … Continue reading Am Nordufer
Urge to stay #fivewords
Weekly Writing Challenge #127 She answered his wish, his urge to spend another year in the City, among the ghosts, in the parks, on the banks of the river: yet he knew she would soon crave the sight of another river, the high cliff, her sister the Mermaid. At night he would listen to … Continue reading Urge to stay #fivewords
Looking back… #Iamwriting
Last winter, there was ice on the windows... Perhaps, now, we miss that cold edge to the air? The long walks along the river, the parcs, the lakes. A cold Sekt on a bench, long rides in the vibrating forests, the discovery of ancient sites, the monuments to deep history... The storm. Each day … Continue reading Looking back… #Iamwriting
Neophyte #thedailypost
Neophyte The streets are empty, and rain starts falling. Some windows are lit, high up the tall buildings. Fallen leaves fly in the wind. Slowly he begins to hear the voices of the city. He has so much to learn: the geography of those unknown spaces, where the wall once stood, the secret boundaries, what … Continue reading Neophyte #thedailypost
“Suspicious, but still benign…”
When they left the S-Bahn station a thin drizzle was falling on the deserted sidewalks of Wedding. It was about 1:30 in the morning, there was hardly any traffic, dawn was still some hours away. They were tired of carrying their luggage: it had been a long journey, all the way from the other … Continue reading “Suspicious, but still benign…”
Our stage #fivewords
Weekly writing prompt #105 We stop, and look back at the year past. The sky fills with clouds, our hearts with the images of the city. Our stage is here, where the trip starts and ends. Picture: Landwehrkanal from Möckern Brücke, Kreuzberg
Of Glass & Paper 