Category: Epiphanies
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The joy of ceremony
Over the past fortnight, I’ve had occasion to experience two of the great ceremonies of life, one in person, the other vicariously. Both occasions elicited tears from celebrants and participants alike. There’s something about ceremony that draws us together, connects us, leaves us staggered with the realisation that we are irreducibly social creatures. And yet,…
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Palpable relief?
Over time, I think it’s natural to develop work-arounds, ways of accommodating when things don’t go according to plan. So if the fan oven element could not be repaired, or if the problem was deeper in the electronics somewhere I couldn’t reach, there was still the other side which works without a fan. Work-arounds are…
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Clouds of Dame’s Rocket
But the clouds of blossom are so enchanting, and apparently its evening scent so complements the visual delight, that perhaps we can forgive this dame’s rocket for its rampant colonising along the river bank. I love the appearance of these wild flowers at the bottom of the track. Up in our own little patch, we…
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The ms is delivered . . .
With a dull thud, the finished first draft lands on the kitchen table, all 272 pages of it. On the one hand, it’s an enormous relief, and a definite joy, but on the other hand it’s an empty space in my heart. I could feel the vacuum encroaching as I developed the ‘last’ scene which…
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Sunshine on Sparty Lea
I don’t often concentrate on Poets’ Corner, when I think of the hamlet of Sparty Lea. The tiny village itself feels as if it’s centred around the sub-Post Office and the old Methodist chapel, but in fact the designation Sparty Lea always encompassed a much broader swathe of the East Allen valley. Never mind all…
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Orientations . . .
Everyone knows that the ancients who built Stonehenge orientated it to align with the sunrise at the solstices. Similarly, barrows in Scotland may have a long passageway that is only fully illuminated on one morning of the year. The due diligence of the ancient astronomers who built their calendars so precisely is justly lauded. But…
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Measuring up to the challenge
Our son came to me with a challenge: how about a time lapse sequence of seeds sprouting, Dad, in the shape of the title of our special video? As the seeds grow, they could emerge magically from the soft peat and behold, the letters might appear, revealed from their dark incubating place. So the challenge…
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The sweet spot
Someone @AltonAlbanyBB recently tweeted a view of Ailsa Craig off the Isle of Arran, from the South Ayrshire coast, and I was reminded of this poem I wrote in response to the theme: A Sense of Place. Not, apparently, what the competition promoters had in mind! The Sweet Spot No I am not a sportsman,…
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Hanging out the blessings
Poetry, like music, is an excellent vehicle for communicating feelings. I can tell you, in so many words during a conversation, how I experienced a sense of joy one sunny afternoon while hanging out the washing. But if I want to open up my sense of that occasion, it helps me to describe my experience…
Roads to Joy 