and I dream this dream all day,

I dream this dream,

with one slow

exhalation.

Salena Godden

Escape

When foxes eat the last gold grape,

And the last white antelope is killed,

I shall stop fighting and escape

Into a little house I’ll build.

But first I’ll shrink to fairy size,

With a whisper no one understands,

Making blind moons of all your eyes,

And muddy roads of all your hands.

And you may grope for me in vain

In hollows under the mangrove root,

Or where, in apple-scented rain,

The silver wasp-nests hang like fruit.

Elinor Wylie

Your World

Your world is as big as you make it.

I know, for I used to abide

In the narrowest nest in a corner,

My wings pressing close to my side.

But I sighted the distant horizon

Where the skyline encircled the sea

And I throbbed with a burning desire

To travel this immensity.

I battered the cordons around me

And cradled my wings on the breeze,

Then soared to the uttermost reaches

With rapture, with power, with ease!

Georgia Douglas Johnson

Not knowing when the Dawn will come

Not knowing when the Dawn will come,

I open every Door,

Or has it Feathers, like a Bird,

Or Billows, like a Shore?

Emily Dickinson

The Instructions

1. How to spot THE INSTRUCTIONS

THE INSTRUCTIONS come in all shapes and sizes.

They are often found in and around:

• Tall buildings with statues of lions outside

• Faces with an angry expression

• Faces with a smile seen only in the mouth but (crucially) not in the eyes

2. The other instructions

There are plenty of other sorts of instructions, which can of course be useful.

For example:

• Try not to insert any part of your body into this pond: it contains an irritated crocodile

• For best results, keep both eyes open while landing this lopsided helicopter

• Do not under any circumstances eat the angry man’s sandwich

3. What THE INSTRUCTIONS want

You see, THE INSTRUCTIONS aren’t here to help you.

They want to help someone or something else.

THE INSTRUCTIONS say things like:

• No one’s ever done THAT before: it CAN’T be a good idea

• Please do the SAME thing as all those OTHER people over THERE

• Hear that person talking in the PARTICULARLY loud voice? They must DEFINITELY be RIGHT.

4. If you follow THE INSTRUCTIONS

If you follow THE INSTRUCTIONS it is unlikely

anyone will ever be very cross with you.

If you follow THE INSTRUCTIONS you are

guaranteed to feel neat and tidy (but also a little

short of breath)

5. If you don’t follow THE INSTRUCTIONS

You will likely face some tricky moments. Apologies for this.

However, there is also a good chance that something

Strangeexcitingremarkableunexpectedslightlyfrighteningbutbrightlycoloured

will happen.

6. The choice

is yours.

Kate Wakeling

Away and See

Away and see an ocean suck at a boiled sun

and say to someone things I’d blush even to dream.

Slip off your dress in a high room over the harbour.