Christmas Special: 25 Word Countdown: "Everything she touches turns into music. Play her pancakes on the turntable."

25M: Traveled to Jamaica on a pirogue, tricked everybody into believing in the God of Rhum, became the king, but made one mistake: destroyed the idol.

25Z: Handles the alarm clock. Silent sigh of her mouth, wingtip eyelids, lilac lips. Beautiful woman. His. Momentarily. Rings in his hands, puts his on her.

24M: It hides under beds and stairs, behind corners, under cellars. The only way to kill him is to find out what it looks like.

24Z: Pen on paper. Pages eaten by words, consumed in hours. Busybody fate. Every line lies. Every line trash. Every line crumpled. Dreams in dustbins.

23M: Her head was full of animals. Sadness was a mockingbird, happiness a parrot. Her rage a wild lynx and was impossible to tame.

23Z: Glowworm ribcage softens footsteps in moonlight, the quiet warmth of a soul in motion. Heaven was never ours, but why make death dour?

22M: They collected the footprints of passers-by, framed them, and put them in the museum. It was the proof their land existed.

22Z: She surprises me with "I'm pregnant," immediately bores me with "Our child." One word breaks her cunningly, that word one spelled vasectomy.

21M: A community of miniature creatures lives at the bottom of the wine bottle. Imagine how they laugh when you've empied it.

21Z: Manipulate strings, optical cords articulate my puppet shaped worldview. Simple life, don't make me think. Dead leaders are easier to follow.

20M: He undressed slowly, dismantled the sweater until he held a woolen bundle. Knitted an air balloon, flew to the moon.

20Z: Twenty. Not a good age to die. Too young to know how to live. Both of which come later, unbidden.

19M: Jim had the power of talking to doorknobs. No thief or spy, only loved to check what was behind.

19Z: She sails through the hole I've crafted in my heart, assailed by undercurrents and ceaseless storms. Slowly, she tires.

18M: Checking every statue in her studio before leaving, stopped where the mirror used to be. Saw another statue.

18Z: Proudly holding the man's heart in hand, he kicks the decapitated corpse down endless steps. Mayan's party hard.

17M: Running his wig shop had made him the best friend of all the bald women in town.

17Z: Jackknife tongue divides around my edges, hugs my jagged face. We knives rarely get love so tender.

16M: Honey I'm home. She enters the bedroom. He's in bed. Cheeks red. Rustling in the closet.

16Z: "That was my head." She's lost a lot of blood. I asked if she was hungry.

15M: He watches the weather man predict the present, ignoring the window with a view behind.

15Z: The pillows met at night, heads mixing heavy air, providing dreams, making light in darkness.

14M: If she went out every night, she thought, she'd finally forget the way home.

14Z: "No," says the conductor. "Not stoppin' this train fer yer' robot'r any real man."

13M: Not guilty. Gun simply happened to be in his hand. Finger on trigger.

13Z: Martin lives on weekends. Other days Martin vacates his body. No one notices.

12M: Everything she touches turns into music. Play her pancakes on the turntable.

12Z: Riot shield ruins his birthday. Most of his jaw. Complexion. Glasses. Pants.

11M: Meeting place for their last encounter: in front of the altar.

11Z: String up the guitar, play pretty pretender. Long roads, long nights.

10M: Small hands tear the arms off the clock. Defeated time.

10Z: Zipper signs abrasions on his hand. Courtesy: his mother's purse.

9M: Paint, wall paper, paintings. Anything to hide the bricks.

9Z: Gentlemen violence bleeds genteelly across the estate. Bizarro Darcy.

8M: "Honour" he said, heads rolling off. "How much?"

8Z: Eat the cat, swallow the bird, forget yourself.

7M: Human flesh like candle wax unites, illuminates.

7Z:  Can be anything growing up. Poison indecision.

6M: Never ask for real fairytale ends.

6Z: Loved he wasn't, she he loved.

5M: Her stop is that cloud.

5Z: Cinderella's slipper fit the kingdom.

4M: Jumped. Ground floor. Embarrassing.

4Z: Quagmire kiss constricts inhibition.

3M: Horses gallop backwards.

3Z: Rock. Paper. Auto-erotic-asphyxiation.

2M: Leopard crossing.

2Z: Piñata pelt.

1M: Irreversible.

1Z: Pederast.

20/12/13 - She clears the dust off her heart.

10Z: What birds saw we didn't. All indistinct, equal, from above.
10M: To survive a world of layers: must get trapped inbetween.

9Z: First man swallows the earth, then sea, then stars.
9M: Briefcase lost in the crowd. Body amputated. Or free.

8Z: Don't feed what you can't afford, he says.
8M: Lies don't grow on trees but taste good.

7Z: She clears the dust off her heart.
7M: Her reflection on windows cancelled everything outside.

6Z: The spaces he gnawed heal slowly.
6M: Hunger is missing tastes never tasted.

5M: Standing still makes other move.
5Z: Alarm sounds in empty room.

4M: Water fell like bombs.
4Z: Up, came down. Surprise.

3Z: Saw it coming.
3M: Truth sounded funny.

2M: Disappointed smile.
2Z: Corrosive ambition.

1M: Impersonation.
1Z: Punished.

16/12/13 - Knocking's just another way of kicking down doors.

10M: Money is printing reality on paper, erasing reality, leaving paper.
10Z: Falling into the cross, like all symbols, meant burning definitives.

9M: We circumnavigate to avoid meeting the heart of lands.
9Z: Pouring himself into the suitcase required going without socks.

8M: Knocking's just another way of kicking down doors.
8Z: Quiet lives, quiet thoughts, quiet beliefs, quiet truths.

7M: Books were bricks. She could build walls.
7Z: He misspelled "marital" as "martial." Every time.

6M: Count sheep until you sleep forever.
6Z: Head on a stick said plenty.

5M: His skin was the map.
5Z: "Go ahead, shoot," said Sarcasm.

4M: Her laughter was crunchy.
4Z: Shut doors invite questions.

3M: Dial lucky numbers.
3Z: One needs one.

2M: Inwards torchlight.
2Z: Victor. Spoils.

1M: Villain.
1Z: Lemons.

15/12/13 - The world focused into a point down the sights.

10Z: The story of her face clipped sentences, ignored punctuation. Lied.
10M: He'd built an empire at the bottom of a bottle.

9M: What if your eyes turn around and look inside.
9Z: The world focused into a point down the sights.

8Z: Head gear guaranteed an empty bed. Routine disappointment.
8M: Your parts will never add up to you.

7M: The trouble with trains : choosing right stops.
7Z: Ships sank in her oceans. Transatlantic ghosts.

6M: Most people were pit-stops. Not her.
6Z: Cut in half, Mark's opinion unified.

5Z: Spacebar incisions rectify syntactical trauma.
5M: Grow darkness. Wait for fruits.

4M: Only one wish left.
4Z: Cosine smile solves me.
4Z: Upset stomach? Butterfly riot.

3M: Dissected opinions evaporate.
3Z: Jesus slam dunks.

2M: Miracle catcher.
2Z: Dreams precipitate.

1M: Cimbals.
1Z: Exsanguinate.

12/12/13 - Rooms behind shut doors are bigger.

10Z: Lampshade hats flatter less the next morning. Still! Try it.
10M: Dancing's how he cleansed his mind. Until she turned up.

9Z: Headphones put out fires, emergency sprinklers in sonic waves.
9M: Truth is something you can move around without changing.

8Z: Spelled vagrant with his fists, a bitter grammar.
8M: What is the difference between drinking and drowning?

7M: All the sugar is in the canes.
7Z: The faulty bottle opener of his mouth.

6M: Rooms behind shut doors are bigger.
6Z: Wire slid under, snaked, uninvited, inside.

5M: Bones are made of flowers.
5Z: Uneaten, God's born fruit, corrupts.

4M: Slowing down kills too.
4Z: Abel to Cain: "Why?"

3M: You never were.
3Z: Incubuses play favorites.

2M: Repaired personality
2Z: Vestigial virtue.

1M: Rehearsal.
1Z: Oops.

10/12/13 - Hide beneath the bed with the other monsters.

10Z: Whispering behind the curtain, the starlet directs this performance nightly.
10M: You can never race alone. You need to beat somebody.

9Z: Head implodes. Stuck flesh curved inward. Nasty word problems.
9M: Cutting down the legs of God in the forest.

8M: Pigeon and storks couped the world mail service.
8Z: Hide beneath the bed with the other monsters.

7M: Hope: opening umbrellas standing below the ocean.
7Z: Tongue, pinched by fingers, tastes of ink.

6M: Hidden cellar beneath the candy shop.
6Z: Tea suggests class issues coffee doesn't.

5Z: Fingernails taste funny. Stupid Herman.
5M: Secret world below the snow.

4Z: Disco's dying. Tell somebody.
4M: Human feathers are rare.

3M: Skipping you hurts.
3Z: Hammer spree nostalgia.

2M: Empty matrioska.
2Z: Empty leash.

1M: Diary.
1Z: Results.

9/12/13 - The rainbow is made up of starting lines.

10M: Can't tear walls down by staring at them, he thought.
10Z: Years with a scalpel make a jigsaw of his fingerprints.

9M: Fire paints dark dancers on the trees around it.
9Z: Honey! No. Take the cat out of the snowman.

8M: The rainbow is made up of starting lines.
8Z: Strung up with wire, John doubted his intuition.

7M: Telephone cables aren't gone. They're just invisible.
7Z: Knife - Toe + Pride, divided by alcohol, = Anecdote.

6M: Stating the obvious: a popular profession.
6Z: Regret doesn't exist beneath the bleachers.

5M: Home: point of no return?
5Z: Tail tucked, resembles his father.

4M: Leave no secrets behind.
4Z: Bit lip beckons bliss.

3M: Suitcases are vehicles.
3Z: Hands in boxes.

2M: Opera crickets.
2Z: God's exhibition.

1M: Invader.
1Z: Immolated.

8/12/13 - The sock monkey held my hand as the house burned.

10M: You must burn it to transform it into something new.
10Z: The sock monkey held my hand as the house burned.

9M: We all carry five different species of ghosts inside
9Z: His nose broke long before his glasses. Adolescent shellshock.

8Z: The Earth fed music, sensed cadence in revolutions.
8M: Islands have the power to sail around unnoticed.

7M: Wars never end. They keep on ending.
7Z: Leave nothing left of me to eat.

(No matter what side you're on, there is always a blade)

6Z: Better this side of the gun.
6M: The woman in the painting smiled back.

5Z: What elevates her smile? Honesty.
5M: Guess where chameleons are born.

4M: An orphanage for parents.
4Z: See skin, will follow.

3Z: Tongue's tip tastes.
3M: Triplet of shoes.

2M: Collateral repair.
2Z: Disembodied? Disillusioned.

1M: Salvation
1Z: Sterile.

5/12/13 - Fill this space with frames.

10M: Of a billion stories only two got on the Arc.
10Z: Heaven - a gated community. Take my hand through the bars.

9M: He couldn't speak a language but had a guitar.
9Z: Fallen on my sword. Your prerogative, he adds, twisting.

8M: This song in my head - never stops playing.
8Z: Under your tongue, safe from all but affection.

7M: Only climb if there is a top.
7Z: Eyes tightly shut, bodies communicate in breaths.

6M: Tonight lightbulbs declare independence from electricity.
6Z: Deleted, I sit in the bin.

5M: Fill this space with frames.
5Z: Holidays are just planned accidents.

4M: Back and forth? Outdated.
4Z: Insides mean less outside.

3M: Opposites attract - crash.
3Z: Santa "slays" centerfold.

2M: Heartbroken sock.
2Z: Mistletoe trauma.

1M: Hypochondriac.
1Z: Undone.

04/12/13 - Racist children? Only briefly funny.

10Z: Tires grip pavement grip flesh grip bone. Public Service Announcement.
10M: Their home planet looks so small standing over Mount Everest.

9Z: Hide your colors behind my eyelids, don't show, tell.
9M: There is nothing you cannot perform on a stage.

8Z: Disc in, lights down, volume up, brain off.
8M It's difficult to tell them apart from candy

7M: Travel agencies go bankrupt. Borders are closed.
7Z: Scarves aren't meant for that. Oh well.

6M: No way back. No way forwards.
6Z: I like lamps. They're so quiet.

5M: Knife, gun, rope, hammer, torch
5Z: Racist children? Only briefly funny.

4Z: What's underneath your fingernails?
4M: They lied about evolution

3M: Double use sunglasses
3Z: Do carriages explode?

2M: Nursing robots
2Z: Aphrodisiac collateral.

1M: Polygamy
1Z: Aftermath.

03/12/13 - Why do we look for happiness when we can sleep?

10M: Why do we look for happiness when we can sleep?
10Z: Stone's turned over. If it's not there, then we're fucked.

9M: If they aren't back at dawn, we leave.
9Z: Earlobes don't feel the same at night. Ask anyone.

8M: You can take vitamin, iron or future pills.
8Z: Flags mean more over caskets than flag poles.

7M: Own three passports, use the right one.
7Z: Lust lingers into love, two stay confused.

6M: Sheep are not defined by wool.
6Z: Scissored skin snugly, soundly, sweetly singing.

5M: She never stopped being hungry.
5Z: And suddenly Fish remembers everything.

4M: Small princes age too.
4Z: Make it pretty, doctor.

3M: Fake candy melt.
3Z: God's upside down.

M2: Furry shadow.
2Z: Lecherous leper.

M1: Morbid.
Z1: Tinder.

02/12/13 - You can now look your death up on Google

9Z  - Her lips curl backwards in the sun, decomposition's smile.
9M - You can now look your death up on Google

8Z  - Cigarette tipped lips spell smoke signals over tabletops.
8M - Found: million year old alien skeleton in Africa

7Z  - And suddenly we're all flightless birds. Again.
7M - Almost done, need to find the foot!

6Z  - It isn't dying I'm worried about.
6M - Treasure was buried inside a whale

5M - Carnivorous plant discovered: loves mosquitos
5Z  - Nice weather for an Armageddon.

4M - The last dictionary burnt
4Z  - Not the face, mother.

3Z  - Hey there, God.
3M - Creative lying masters

2Z  - I died?
2M - Eat crying

1M - Grumpy
1Z  - Xenophobe

01/12/13 - It wasn't crayons that killed her, Watson.

7M: Follow that ship! I told the taxi driver.
7Z: It wasn't crayons that killed her, Watson.

6M: White stockings floating in the river.
6Z: Whimpering, eating bread, in the dark.

5M: The champion broke his arm
5Z: No Christmas lights this year.

4M: The truck's brakes broke.
4Z: Don't shave it off.

3M: Operate it away.
3Z: Burst bubbles blemish.

2M: Biological jewelry.
2Z: No Eyelids.

1M: Boneless.
1Z: Atrophy.