SPOILER ALERT!! Tonight’s Sherlock Special, The Abominable Bride takes us back in time to 1895. The show opens with Watson’s narration and flashback to his time in war, and quickly speeds through a re-creation of the contemporary scenes from Sherlock, episode 1: Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) whipping a dead body (more than ever); Watson (Martin Freeman) introduced … Continue reading
Author Archives: heatherjmacpherson
On Nightmares & Memory
The shocking discovery that you wake from a bad dream and your body is still, unmovable. The frightening realization that even in your forties you still experience a recurring horror from your childhood, a representation of the boogeyman. Sometimes it is just a voice, a cajoling, indecipherable vociferation; it startles you awake, forcing your body … Continue reading
Thrilling Women Writers: Dark Places; Shirley
My summer reading has been quite exciting this summer. After reading Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl I immediately picked up Dark Places, which was also adapted for the screen starring Christina Hendricks. Dark Places is an intense novel about a young woman named Libby Day who is the sole survivor of slaughter. During what I deem a home invasion scenario, … Continue reading
On Being Thirsty
It isn’t just the constant need to drink water, tepid or ice-cold, a sometimes quick swallow, the consecutive gulps to relieve the undeniable dryness calling out between layers of flesh, buried in countless cells. Even the vessel held at the temple or neck provides a sense of relief; the damping shock, or simple connection between … Continue reading
Reading Life: Thrilling Women Writers
About a month ago my husband and I watched Gone Girl directed by David Fincher, starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike. I rarely ever see an adaptation before reading the book, but I was excited to see it and enjoyed the film. A few days later I borrowed Gillian Flynn’s best-seller from my friend Sarah. As despicable as … Continue reading
School’s Out Now What? Accepting Changes in Routine
My school year position is over until the fall. I have plans to work this summer, but every time I lose the structure of the school day it takes me a few days, sometimes a couple of weeks, to develop and accept a new routine. The day after school ended I had a great time reading … Continue reading
3 New Poems Published!
I have three new poems published by text magazine and you can view them in issue four. Start exploring the site here. You should take a look at them as well. It’s a great Canadian bimonthly poetry and art magazine, and they also look for flash fiction, photography, etc. They publish six times a year. I was … Continue reading
Exhaustion is so worth it.
This past weekend we at Damfino Press, Sarah, Lea and I, held our first 2-day workshop at the Barred Owl Retreat in Leicester, Massachusetts. It is an amazingly beautiful space, inside and out. Participants worked with Patricia Smith from 9-3 each day with a break for lunch, and Saturday evening some of us went to dinner, … Continue reading
Writing About the Prize in a Cracker Jack Box
The time is 11:52 PM, now 53 and June 1st is closing in. There’s no rush, or deadline, but the looming shift from the end of one month and moving forward into the next is daunting. Which is why I’m watching Breakfast at Tiffany’s on LOGO. What better a distraction than Holly Golightly and Paul … Continue reading
Writing with Others
Allowing oneself to engage in the reading and writing of poetry with other like-minded individuals is a most rewarding experience. Last night I facilitated the first in a three part workshop series called “A Beautiful Catastrophe.” The title is a play on a poetic line by Frank O’Hara, and it was his work we focused … Continue reading
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