The Golden Rule

Issue 35

September 2021

William Morris was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditional British textile arts and methods of production. The stimulus for this issue is his oft-quoted maxim: "If you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it: have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."

Playlist inspired by the stimulus

I Learn My True Nature

Lorna Gibb

This is what I was told.Our house was small and indistinct. My father was a fisherman. My mother, a midwife.

Frozen Fireworks

Christina Nation

Warm fingertips press into my shoulder. In my periphery, I see Colin perched beside me, on the leather sofa’s narrow...

Journey to the Centre of My Room

Mark-Peter Howe

The long room runs from one side of the old mansion to the other, with original Georgian windows at each end rising...

The Shack

Ted J. Gibbs

Standing by the railway line, and the bridge overhead. Looked into the stars because they were many and secured up...

Too Short

Thomas Hutchinson

I find my eyes amongst the hailing greys, / central, like the principal teaching / in an overcrowded frame

William Morris in Love

Paul Acker

I knew Christopher and Iben when they met and fell in love in Iceland, lolling in the hot water pools in the hills...

The Fischer Man

Lauren Tom

He himself was very ugly, but he liked beautiful things. Distinctly he recalled the moment of this realization.

100 Summers Ago

Mark Millicent

New houses, cold and stark. / I like old wood scratches, gouges and marks / Leaded windows draughty damp and dark

The Animals

Nacho Oliden

We lived at a ranch near Balcarce, at I don’t know how many hundred kilometres from Mar del Plata.

This issue was brought to you with the gracious support of our Patreons:

Aisenour Bitsen

Anthy & Costas

Colby Torbett

Dorina Papaliou

Joelle Hivonnet

Zoe Bell

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