coffee off the clock: am i really here at last?
join me for the second in a series of weekly musings about life since leaving corporate & following my writing dreams. Continue reading coffee off the clock: am i really here at last?
Author: Ailsa Gillies
Journalist & author.
coffee off the clock: let’s do some living
join me for the first in a series of weekly musings about life since leaving corporate & following my writing dreams. Continue reading coffee off the clock: let’s do some living
I Don’t Buy It
If I had a penny for every time somebody told me how to ‘fix’ something about myself that I never seen as a problem, I’d be a millionaire. A poem that explores the insidious trade of our insecurities. How the most rebellious thing you can do is love yourself. Continue reading I Don’t Buy It
We’re afraid to be wise
Have you ever had a monk make a fool out of you on your way to work ? Well, I did. My 20s were a crash course in everything that could go wrong, and what I discovered wasn’t perfection or performance, but the quiet, messy power of living honestly. Continue reading We’re afraid to be wise
Men at Arms
A black-out poem from an old Robert Louis Stevenson piece turned anti-war as a critique of romanticised ‘honour’ in bloodshed. Continue reading Men at Arms
Play the Fool
All great things began with a trying fool. Continue reading Play the Fool
Bells Between Barga
A poem that reflects on cross-cultural love using soft, impressionist imagery and intentional symbols across nations. Partly inspired by Giovanni Pascoli’s L’ora Di Barga. Continue reading Bells Between Barga
The Bird of Madonna
Ailsa Gillies reflects on the mother-child bond through the eyes of a bird after visiting the Ufizzi Gallery in Florence. The Bird of Madonna is a soft reflection on how a mother’s devotion can become self-sacrificial, until the child learns to tend its own wounds. Continue reading The Bird of Madonna
Inherited Goods
Is it better to be good or honest? Ailsa Gillies reflects on the lineage of ‘good’ people that have come before her, noting that self-sacrifice is not romantic, but a quiet stirring of resentment and grief. Continue reading Inherited Goods
Big Feelings
Big Feelings in a small world. This poem comes from the healing found from internal reconciliation, not from the repentance of those who hurt you. Continue reading Big Feelings
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