oneword.: chosen: "I stood there in the kitchen, the tall people all around me were waiting, looking, and I felt my hand tremble. The plate of cake was held there and so as not to appear greedy I let my hand hover, looking for the smallest piece. The tall boys laughed loudly, 'She is looking for the biggest piece' they said. I wanted to shrivel up and die of shame then and wished I had chosen faster. "

oneword.: popular: "Never in the popular crowd, instead on the edge there, hovering with a certain lack of respect for those who feel that it is their right to hurt others to make themselves look cool. "

oneword.: reputation: "No-one wanted to have a 'reputation' but I did apparently, though I had done nothing to warrant it other than going to primary school with the popular boys. Familiarity breeds contempt, perhaps? "

oneword.: segment: "I don't want to be the vital segment, or maybe I do, but I want to be valued as the vital segment. If I don't do my job, then the whole structure will come tumbling down, so maybe somebody should pay me for that. Why should I do it all for free? "

oneword.: revolve: "At fifteen she believes the world revolves around her, I think I thought that she would grow out of that after she turned two. I am a forever hopeful mother though, there is always next year. "

oneword.: departure: "
I wish they would make their departure. My mood demands it. Messy men, crowding around, talking about stupid things, treating this place like a home, geez, I have to work here, what do they think this is? "

oneword.: revival: "In her wardrobe she has the clothes I wore when I was fifteen. At her thirteenth birthday she played the same 'Grease' soundtrack I played the year I turned thirteen. She lives a revival of my youth. Weird really. "

oneword.: spring: "Here it is the beginning of the heat, it doesn't rain enough so to have a spring garden you have to use that precious water that should be saved for summer. I like Autumn better. It is autumn now, crisp fresh and like a long cool shower after a heat wave. "

oneword.: lavender: "Bottles and bottles of lavender oil, we dab it on the mosquito bites and they stop itching and we smell like a linen cupboard or a relaxed sunny afternoon nap with clean white sheets washed in lavender fabric softener. "

oneword.: green: "Well here is a blatant attempt to get me to think about Ireland, just because it is St Patrick's day. But yes, the greenest photo I have in my collection was taken in Ireland at a tomb just north west of Dublin. "

oneword.: game: "After the game we would climb back into the bus a stream of hot sweaty teenagers. I remember even if we had won, the heavy sadness I would feel as we were transported back to the school. It always felt like jail after the wide windy openess of the field hockey grounds. "

oneword.: detour: "On the way home from work in the mornings I would sometimes take a small detour and knock on his window pane. He would climb out of bed or I would climb in. We would breakfast together, usually he would follow me home and we would eat there. He would make me a beautiful breakfast and then I would fall into bed and sleep the day, while he went and did whatever he did. I loved those mornings and now with his namesake in the headlines every day I think of him again and wonder who he has breakfast with now. "

oneword.: needle: "In the hot little room, the ten of us learned how to thread a needle and tie a knot at the end. Outside the silence rang in my ears until it threatened to deafen me. Mrs Plant showed me again how to spin the thread over my finger to make the knot. When I showed Grandma she seemed annoyed. Mrs Plant wasn't doing it just the way my Gran had shown her. In the bush school we learned to thread the needle Mrs Plant's way. "

oneword.: mistake: "It remains glaringly obvious that he was my greatest mistake. A mistake once made, my stubborn nature did not want to admit to and so my mistake, though at first quite small became huge and all encompassing until it created itself as greater than any apology could ever be. "

oneword.: message: "Scrawled on the notepaper on the kitchen bench we communicate. When I get in at night, he sleeps, when I wake up, he is gone. We write messages of love and of hate and pain and anger and frustration, and now years later, now that he is dead, I remember those words. "

oneword.: avoid: "confrontation at all costs. I have to, I hate it more than I hate corned beef and pumpkin and that is an awful lot. "

oneword.: blink: "In the blink of an eye, you are gone. I hold that vision of you, standing there on the railway platform. Your shoulders are slightly hunched, the expression on your face knows we will never meet again. This is goodbye. I feel the roar as the train gathers speed, you shrink and then in the blink of an eye, you are gone. "

oneword.: finish: "I can see the finish line, it only took the vision of one completed wall and now the job seems easy. Soon my house will be renewed, all painted and fresh and finished."

oneword.: dude: "I married a surfer dude. Though to be honest I never think of him like that. When we first met we travelled the coast in his kombi van smoking pot and checking out the waves. I think that is about as surfer dudish as you can get really. "

oneword.: nails: "My mother always won the nail hammering competition at the gymkana. She always won the broom throwing contest as well. She was a foot taller than most of the women and stronger than half of the men. My mother. "

oneword.: charm: "It comes so naturally to him and I look and watch and I see people mesmerised by it. He seems unaware he has it. I see his uneasiness like waves wash over him. He carries on so accustomed to this feeling and in a flash of clarity I see that I am more charmed by him than anyone. "

oneword.: continue: "I just can't continue giving money to this isp, I have to find a better deal. I've had enough of the monopolising of the industry and the complete disregard for customer care. Bigpond can go jump. "

oneword.: worthless: "I know that word so well, it trips through my mind all day, telling me that's what I am, telling me I cannot pretend I matter because I don't. I know that word, that word kills me, I hate that word. "