Posted in poetry on 28 January, 2008 | 6 Comments »
I’m hoping Sister Sarah will offer some tips on the nuances of the language in the previous post. But until then, I offer this as a sort of gloss on the phrase ‘regagné a lui-même’.
maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach (to play one day)
and maggie discovered a shell [...]
Posted in poetry on 14 December, 2007 | 1 Comment »
After a funeral visit, I turned to Larkin for Love Songs in Age. It was in the wrong key. So we try this instead:
To write one song, I said,
As sad as the sad wind
That walks around my bed,
Having one simple fall
As a candle-flame swells, and is thinned,
As a curtain stirs by the wall
–For this [...]
Posted in poetry on 14 November, 2007 | 2 Comments »
no, not mine.
(and I suggest the person in mind omit the last stanza)
Don’t Say I Said
Next time you speak to you-know-who
I’ve got a message for him.
Tell him that I have lost a stone
Since the last time that I saw him.
Tell him that I’ve got three new books
Coming out soon, but play it
Cool, make it sound [...]
Posted in learning, poetry on 22 October, 2007 | 1 Comment »
The announcement came tonight of the creation of an artificial life form.
The official announcement, at least. When I went looking for links, I gather this has been known for a few months, but I had somehow missed it.
Craig Ventner, who was at the heart of the human genome project, has created a synthetic [...]
Posted in poetry on 1 September, 2007 | No Comments »
A poem, for someone who may need a bit of Wendy Cope.
Two Cures for Love
1 Don’t see him. Don’t phone or write a letter.
2 The easy way: get to know him better.
Wendy Cope,
Serious Concerns
(of course, she may be wrong.)
Posted in poetry on 4 July, 2007 | 12 Comments »
We haven’t had a poem for a while. So — following the apophatic dash– Adrienne Rich’s Love Poem (XIII):
The rules break like a thermometer,
quicksilver spills across the charted systems,
we’re out in a country that has no language
no laws, we’re chasing the raven and the wren
through the gorges unexplored since dawn
whatever we do together is pure [...]
Posted in poetry on 30 April, 2007 | 2 Comments »
Sister Sarah has asked that I post R. S. Thomas’ The Bright Field for you. Quite appropriate, really, since the sun has lured a friend from Glasgow across the water and we are going in search of bluebells. (so congregation, a last minute change of schedule: I’m off duty today, working on Wednesday.)
The [...]
Posted in photos, poetry on 30 March, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Tonight was the last of the Lent Groups on Prayer and we were down to the faithful few. It seems I’m not the only feeling a bit pressured right now. It’s been a remarkable group: new members and old, few obvious connections between them and remarkably diverse personalities. Yet each of them open [...]
Posted in poetry on 10 March, 2007 | No Comments »
Just for the sake of it, on a busy day:
The Poet’s Song
(tune: ‘The Lord Chancellor’s Song’ from Iolanthe)
When I started to write, as a very young man
(Said I to myself — said I),
I’ll always produce the best work that I can
(Said I to myself — said I).
I’ve devoted myself to the life of [...]
Posted in poetry on 30 January, 2007 | 1 Comment »
Sliding on Loch Ogil
Remember, brother soul, that day spent cleaving
nothing from nothing, like a thrown knife?
Then there was no arriving and no leaving,
just a dream of the disintricated life –
crucified and free, the still man moving,
the balancing his work, the wind his wife.
–Don Patterson, Landing Light
