MARIA DUARTE recommends a remarkable study of the friendship between a Palestinian and a Pakistani, broken by a hostile state
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Emma Lee - The Staircase of Knives
Well Versed is edited by Jody Porter
MATTHEW HAWKINS rakes through un-fancy words and flair-free summaries to find who and what might be flamboyant
PETER MASON is exhilarated by an exciting, well-considered and historically minded tribute to the great Trinidadian instrument
Reducing historical lives to ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles, we lose the nuance of those lives and a clearer understanding of past societies, suggests CLAIRE ISABELLA GILMOUR
CHRIS SEARLE relishes the genius of pianist Alexander Hawkins, his many ensembles, and his new album
The Staircase of Knives
Emma Lee
The only thing that's regular
is that there are two on each stair,
one at either end. She has to thread
her way past these kitchen knives
stabbed into the white-painted treads
to get to bed. She has to tip-toe:
if disturbed they will invade
her dreams and sharpen her nerves.
They are not the most chilling
thing in the photo posted by police.
That honour goes to the bullet.
Against the stark white,
its tip points to a blank wall.
This is someone's home,
"a place where one lives,
especially as part of a family."
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