Joanna Savage Coleman
Bio
Stories (5/0)
Real Men
Eloise embodied a bittersweet kind of madness. She was a soft-feathers-stuck-to-honey sort of oddity. She was the kind one would refer to as ‘quirky’ or ‘kooky’ or ‘zany’. She was the kind of girl whom you would go on to describe as ‘girl’ or ‘chick’ even though she was a woman. And although I have no more right to tell the story of Eloise than you do, my friend, let us both admit that she was the one we would whisper about, under our breath, when we sat across the room from her in drawing class. Remember that damned doll?
By Joanna Savage Coleman3 years ago in Horror
How to Savour Time
When I think on the kindness of strangers, I always imagine the little old gent in the supermarket, just off the tram tracks, in Thornbury, Melbourne. It's a simple story - a short story. No grand gestures, or desperate times. No rescue. Our interaction lasted just moments but it has stuck with me for years. His words have become a little mantra of mine in frustrating circumstances. A sentence I didn’t know I needed to hear.
By Joanna Savage Coleman3 years ago in Humans
One of the Lucky Ones
My family has always been poor. I was raised on government benefits, and during adulthood I have only succeeded in securing financial independence for short periods of time. ‘Just getting by’ works fine until something goes wrong. Until something breaks. Like your back hurts, or your vacuum cleaner dies, or a pandemic starts.
By Joanna Savage Coleman3 years ago in Humans
Angry Earth
“I am Earth,” she said. I paused, my pen flicking gently over my note pad. Her name at the top. The date and a few notes. History of child abuse, neglect, injecting drug use. I tapped the pen on the paper, smoothing the furrow in my brow before it could form. She looked at me through her rusted curls. Defiant, practised eyes. Delusions of grandeur? I wrote. Delusions at the very least.
By Joanna Savage Coleman3 years ago in Criminal
Love from Five Feet Away
I live with a rabbit. I say I live with a rabbit, rather than I own a rabbit, because the former feels more accurate to her understanding. Her name is Jemima and we have lived together for over eight years. I bought her from a backyard breeder in Seaford Vic when she was just six weeks old. She wasn’t meant to leave her family so soon, but the breeder’s dogs got out one morning and killed not only Jemima’s mother and father, but all siblings barring her and one other.
By Joanna Savage Coleman3 years ago in Petlife