Poetic alchemy
As a young child I wrote poetry, badly but enthusiastically, secretly. I then did an English degree which involved, of course, reading lots of poetry. I continued to scribble down verses of my own but the degree was more concerned with the deconstruction and analysis of other people’s poems.
I’ve always fancied doing a creative … Read more
The kestrel
I have a lot of online essays to mark in the next two weeks and that involves a whole lot of sitting still. Except I can’t. Because my wrist hurts, my back aches and my shoulders get stiff and so I walk, fidget, do yoga, and hug the cat who doesn’t want to be hugged.… Read more
It’s all about where you look
So, there I am, driving to work through glorious countryside, a golden sun rising across dewy hills. I stop to take a sharp right turn up a steep hill and shift into first gear, which crunches a bit, but it is only when I try to reverse to park that I realise my gears are … Read more
Day of the Dead – Samhain
It is very strange to find that some of my best friends are the same age that my mother was when she died. Not only does it, yet again, remind me just how ridiculously young she was when she died, but also, how we are all ageing.
I remember my Nonna saying how hard it … Read more
We’ve got the power
What a week in politics.
And they are still not talking about climate change, inequality and poverty, the things that will make or unmake stability. We didn’t hear enough about the Iranian women standing up against the hijab or how intergenerational inequality mean our children may never be able to afford their own homes, whether … Read more
Autumn snuggling down
I used to hate the dark wintering months, wetting and chilling us as they shorten the days and steal the summer’s light. But now I notice a sense of relief. Relief that I can rest, be still, sit with the cat warming my legs as I dive between pages of my teetering reading pile.
Wood … Read more