2022 Christmas chaos and words of wisdom from the past
What a scramble to the end of term and the end of 2022. Schools in Wales didn’t break up until the 21st or 23rd December and so it really felt like we were all staggering to the finish line of one race and then falling into Christmas.
It was made worse by the fact that … Read more
It wasn’t winter
I have realised,
age 55
that it wasn’t winter that made me miserable and maudlin
after all.
It was my work,
the ruled, clock time,
stealing daylight
leaving me night.
I have maligned winter,
avoided her,
curled up and wished for spring.
But I have wronged her,
for there is beauty in … Read more
Football frightens me
I have sons who love football and so for years I have stood in mud and cold by the side of small pitches watching kids kick a ball. Then they grow up and want to keep on kicking a ball. None of this do I have any issue with. Health, fitness, being part of a … Read more
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