Hilary Menos

i.m. Ronald Lee Herrick 1934-2010 Hats off to Ronald Lee Herrick, the older, more serious one whose twin brother Richard was dying of kidney disease, who said “I had heard of such things, but it seemed in the realm of science fiction,” who was prepared to undergo a “mutilation procedure”, who spent five and a …

The Mud Man looks like Ben Nevis — as high as ten St Paul’s but without the convenience of a staircase. The popular tourist path requires modest scrambling ability and a head for heights. I choose the hard way to learn the meanings of words: saddle, col, arrête, spike. Barn-dooring on a ‘schrund, I understand …

There was the one dog, neither use nor ornament. Each morning he lurked by the tanker’s dribbling spout licking his chops. Spawned every cur in the district. Bit the postman, once, and got away with it. There was the other dog, two-bit brother to the first, eyes like spilt milk. Danced on the slurry pit’s …