Off the beaten trail from The French Quarter. A tiny gutted Craftsman bungalow, one story, an open porch. Enough space for eight tables, like we always dreamed. Two on the porch, two in the windows. The others in the middle of that slanted Creole living room we called our restaurant. You insisted we had moreContinue reading “Wait”
Category Archives: literary fiction
Relegated Vessels
[a redraft from the story, A Relegated Ship, Run Aground, included in Strangely Fierce Fables] She is a rusted merchant ship, the oldest remaining in Ireland, moored to rest along the banks of the Grand Canal. She’s named the Naomh Éanna. Completed in Dublin’s Liffey Dockyard in 1958, sailing in her prime as an AranContinue reading “Relegated Vessels”
A seal for disquietude
I can see my seal again. The air in my flat crawls a shiver up the sleeves of my nightshirt. The floorboards are patchy warm on my soft morning toes. I am waiting for the final gurgle of my coffee machine to spew its steamy starting airhorn. I want to sit at my desk butContinue reading “A seal for disquietude”
Cagey Beasts (edit)
Shuffling his feet along the graveled city zoo trail, Nikolai pauses at the diverging fork and looks down at his prompt, typed neatly on a roughly cut strip of copier stock. ‘Find your spirit animal, identify one core value you share.’ This was an obvious and shallow team building exercise given to managers at anContinue reading “Cagey Beasts (edit)”
Sacred Fractures
A Japanese parable on imperfection A light rain pinged on top crowded tin roofs and the frail old potter paced below the alleyway around his cooling ceramic. Canopied from the damp, he circled a patio table where his finished pot was perched, carefully assessing its fire-settled state. Slowing his paces, he nodded glibly, muttered aContinue reading “Sacred Fractures”
A Captain’s Compass North
The iceberg breaking hull was a master chef’s knife, wasted and gliding deftly through calm, buttery arctic waters. Clouds were pulling themselves apart and winter’s night sky constellations shone torchlights across scattered icebergs safely in the shadowy distance. This polar expedition passed quietly as the crew laid slumber and the captain handed over the night’sContinue reading “A Captain’s Compass North “
A Relegated Ship, Run Aground & Derelict (Pt.1 of 2)
Part One: A Relegated Ship, Run Aground & Derelict She was an old merchant ship, the oldest remaining in Ireland, moored to rest along the banks of the Grand Canal. She was named the Naomh Éanna (Neev Ay-na). Completed in Dublin’s Liffey Dockyard in 1958, sailing in her prime as an Aran Islands ferry, sheContinue reading “A Relegated Ship, Run Aground & Derelict (Pt.1 of 2)”
The Matrix of Living Abroad
Like a shadow in your mind… there’s always been that feeling that something was just a little off with this small pocket universe you’re living in across the pond. Life in Dublin feels like a bubble of your life in D.C., everything is just a little different… a little stranger. It feels often likeContinue reading “The Matrix of Living Abroad”
Entangled States with an Irish Addict
Entangled States with an Irish Addict, a Rovers & Risings series tale It can be a strange chain of events that plunge you into someone else’s struggles. It’s still early spring days of 2020’s quarantine, sitting in your Dublin city centre flat, and hitting that familiar crossroads for the week between being productive andContinue reading “Entangled States with an Irish Addict”
Irish Fleets & Dublin’s Solidarity
Irish Fleets & Dublin’s Solidarity, a Rovers & Risers series tale The new commotion was evident from outside your high-rise’s living room window. You make a fresh pot of coffee as the morning grows long, and even without sound, you can sense the stirring of change. You take a glimpse outside with yourContinue reading “Irish Fleets & Dublin’s Solidarity”
Paul Carreo 