The Unproof-read
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Buzzcut Season
She’s driving home and Lorde’s Buzzcut Season starts playing on shuffle. Her body recognises the song before her brain does. The tightening in her chest, the breathlessness, the pain gripping her throat: exactly the same as eight years ago, when she was on the very same stretch of road — with the Solent below her… Continue reading
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The Burden Of Story
I’ve just reached a wonderful part in Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Desertion where the main plot appears to be abandoned and the author (or is it someone who’ll turn out to be a narrator?) reflects on what happens next in the story. He can’t fully explain the events, he says, but he knows they took place, implausible… Continue reading
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Knoops
This time, they decide to go in. They’ve avoided it for weeks — months, even — despite the recommendations of friends. But today, the time is right. And so is the nippy weather: perfect for a cup of hot chocolate. Except at Knoops it doesn’t come in a cup. (And no, paper cups don’t count.)… Continue reading
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Sharing
Some excuses are more valid than others. The one about not having enough time — which is probably the excuse he makes the most — is amongst the most valid. But then, even a lack of time, valid excuse though it may be, comes down to a question of choices: decisions to do X with… Continue reading
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Some Of The Things I Haven’t Missed During Lockdown
In no particular order… Shopping – even though I normally consider myself to enjoy mooching around shops. But I have not missed it one single bit. Driving Queuing in car parks Feigning politeness in front of people with whom I have zero desire to spend any time Inane, small-talk-laden social gatherings Feeling tired Feeling like… Continue reading
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Some Of The Things I Have Missed During Lockdown
In no particular order… Travelling The cinema Spending time with certain family members Laduree London Stopping somewhere for a coffee and a ten-minute session of watching the world go by Going for a walk without feeling like I’m in a tense, Tron-style video game in which you have to avoid coming within sneezing distance of… Continue reading
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Contempt Is Corrosive
I have been able to write nothing about the current situation. Nothing and everything. I have written nothing about it explicitly. And yet it has emerged in everything that I’ve written. Continue reading
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Voice
He wonders about the ways in which people can be made to feel unworthy. The first thing he thinks is that he doesn’t like that word: unworthy. It doesn’t really seem to capture the core of the feeling he’s trying to explore. Would ‘non-worthy’ be better? Or ‘non-worthwhile’? What he’s trying to get at is… Continue reading
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Seated
He sits on the edge of the bath, biting his lower lip, hard. They mustn’t hear him crying. His hands grip the bath tub tight, knuckles pushing through the skin. He tries to think about nothing but the force of his grip. On the bath tub. The coolness beneath his hands. His eyes squeezed shut,… Continue reading
About Me
I am a writer and award-winning perfume critic currently living in the south of England and working on a novel. For my perfume-related writing, please visit Persolaise.com.
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DARIUSH ALAVI 