My new book, 13, is out now. For the next few days it’s 20% off with the code SILEO.

Here’s a taster. Like all the other 13s in the book, it is illustrated by the wonderful Diana Probst.

13 anatomical studies

1
Behind her left eye is some sort of mechanism. If you look too closely, the pupil contracts to a pinpoint.

2
All sale items now 90% off. Hands fumble over jumbled junk. Blind eyes forget there’s a horizon.

3
First there was one man on his own, then there was a woman too, then there was shame. He put his hand on her breast and she laughed.

4
We tried to keep abreast of developments by dirtying our fingers on the Financial Times. Filthy lucre made us stinking rich!

5
I found someone else’s fingers in my glove. They were wiry and hard. I planted them in the garden and they grew into arm trees.

6
To take up arms against a sea of troubles…
I was dazzled by the lights and forgot the rest of the line. My head throbbed; I felt sick.

7
He rested his head. He was only asleep for a few seconds, in which time he dreamt that the Bird King was standing over him. When he woke up there was blood on the pillow.

8
In the cabinet is a map showing your birth, your heart, your desires. The red ink in which it is drawn is a blood-sample, stolen from you while you slept.

9
She put her ear to his chest. I’m telling you, she could hear the cockroaches scuttling around inside his hollow heart.

10
It was a marble mausoleum, thick with shadows. Our ears strained for sounds in the silence. A chesty cough made us jump.

11
The creature’s ears were attached to its abdomen.

12
You went in through the abdomen. Years lost in dark intestines. Eventually you found your way out of the labyrinth. Looking at a mirror, you saw the Minotaur staring back.

13
No good will come of this. Nothing lucky about the number 13. I don’t even know why I’m doing this, wrist-deep in the intestines of dead words.

—–

All texts on this site are the copyright of James Knight. The arm tree illustration is the copyright of Diana Probst. All rights reserved.