Tutoring    Writing

Su Thompson
Writing

Poems

Synaesthesia — Oct 2017
Vision is always synaesthetic.

Baggage — Nov 2017
History and all that clan malarky.

Awareness — Mar 2023
Over-sized sunglasses, oversized shirt

Conversation — Mar 2023
I'm tired.

Finish — Mar 2023
There is a child running along a sandy beach:

Give Me — Mar 2023
Give me a gift without strings.

Harvey's Poem — Mar 2023
Tell me everything will be OK.

I Will Not — Mar 2023
I will not --- not any longer --- concern myself with the prattle of fools

There Was A Man — Mar 2023
There was a man who was precise.

There Was A Man Too — Mar 2023
There was man who was, at first, busy

Why Do You — Mar 2023
Tell me: Why do you give up?

The Girl

Mazed — May 2018
The girl in the red-and-white striped dress sits at the front of the class, right-hand side, opposite the blue door.

Brownie — Jul 2018
It is Wednesday evening, and the eager Brownie Guide is making her way down the hill to the Baptist church hall.

Cats — Jul 2018
The girl sits crosslegged on the classroom floor, listening to “Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat”. She twiddles her hair, bewitched by the clever, whimsical poem.

Aquarius — Jul 2018
The seven year-old girl in the grey pinafore dress is painting. With yellow and blue poster paints, sugar paper and cereal boxes, she is creating the backdrop for her seaside model.

Hastings — Aug 2018
The girl with the milk-pale skin is paddling in the cold water of the English Channel, daydreaming.

Shelter — Aug 2018
The nine-year-old girl is sitting cross-legged on the parquet floor of the school hall, upset by the scenes of wretched housing in filthy streets. She wants someone to do something about it.

Arithmetic — Aug 2018
The girl in the worn-out plimsols is posing for a photograph. She stands stiffly, gracelessly, trying to look serious and authentic. It is not working.

Borders — Aug 2018
The child with the allergy to all things feathered is sitting in the back of the car, thumb in her mouth and notebook on her lap, looking out for the sign for the border.

Kindness — Nov 2018
The girl with the bunch of purple heather sits on the side of the hill overlooking the loch, posing for a holiday memory.

Kames — Jul 2018
The girl with the too-short hair cut makes her way down the dirt path. She is taking the short cut beside the football pitch; it peters out at the edge of the sea loch.

Princes — Aug 2018
The asthmatic girl is climbing her way up the 287 steps of the Scott Monument in Edinburgh: her chest is tight and her lungs are straining, but she is determined to get to the top.

Other Stories

Jack — Dec 2018
Jack is bone weary.

Pat — Aug 2019
Patricia is off on a little excursion.

Lassie — Sep 2019
Lassie is dog-tired. But, being a dog (specifically a collie) that’s not unexpected.

Selfridges — Aug 2021
Sally is on the train going to London.

A Box Of Chocolates

Daphne — Aug 2019
Thursday at 7pm is Daphne’s weekly hair appointment.

Lizzy — Aug 2019
Lizzy’s heard it all before. Busy Lizzy. Frizzy Lizzy. Dizzy Lizzy…and that’s just the nicknames.

Brenda (Mavis) — Aug 2019
Brenda sits on the front pew of the crematorium. She’s glad that only her son and daughter-in-law can see her face.

Cathy — Jan 2020
Wivelsfield, Burgess Hill, Hassocks. Cathy notes the the names of the stations as they go past.

Arthur — Apr 2020
Arthur sits at the end of his bed, tying his shoelaces. He is taking his time.

Gill — Jul 2020
Gill is making up the guest bed. She wishes she could be a bit more enthusiastic, put a little more heart into her task.

Elizabeth — Aug 2020
Elizabeth sits in the kitchen of her modest ground-floor flat.

Alex — Sep 2020
Alex closes her laptop with a groan. Her Eng. Lit. 201 essay is just not coming together and it’s getting late.

Joe (Tom) — Aug 2020
Joe is peeling potatoes. He fancies a bit of vegetable pie for supper, so he is working on some fine looking Maris Peers that he's grown from a handful that he bought in his local supermarket.

Tom — Oct 2019
Swoosh. The train glides along the tracks, as if, well… as if it is on rails.

Peter — Sep 2019
Peter puts the phone down. He is troubled and disquieted by the twenty-minute conversation he has just had with this older brother, David.

Ben — Oct 2019
Ben sits in his father’s study, leafing through a huge ring binder.

Ronald — Aug 2019
Ronald looks at his watch. 12.30. His next tutorial session is not until 3pm, so he has time for a leisurely lunch.

Duncan — Sep 2019
Duncan is taking his lunch break.

Kay — Oct 2019
Kay is on the plane to Malaga. She is on her second mini bottle of Teacher’s scotch, having knocked back the first one in two gulps, just to steady her nerves.

John — Mar 2020
John is off on a jaunt. It’s a fair April day, and he fancies a trip to the seaside.

David — Jul 2020
David is raking up the leaves.

Andrew — Aug 2020
Andrew is struggling to get to sleep.

Alison — Aug 2020
Alison sits at her kitchen table with her second glass of Zinfandel.

Ginny (May) — Sep 2020
Ginny is trotting down to the beach to have a swim.

Petunia — Jan 2021
Petunia is not happy.

Laura — Mar 2021
Laura is on her way to work in her trusty VW Golf.

Mimi — Jul 2021
Mimi is bored.

Jan — Nov 2022
The pilot light has gone out again.

COVID Stories

Naja82 — Jan 2021
Naja82 is bored. Two months into lockdown, and he’s feeling weary of the whole thing.

Wellington Road — Apr 2021
April 2020 to October 2021

Coronation — May 2023
Gerald is pottering in the greenhouse.

Joan — Sep 2023
Joan is busy in her vegetable patch.