Singing as the Darkness Lifts

SLOW DOWN PodBean Listening Link    This morning the air is filled with the scent of grass and the sound of birdsong. A blue sky is welcoming the day, and promising warmth soon.   Alt text tells me this week’s photo is a road with words painted on it. It is indeed and it is a photo of what I call the country road where the words SLOW/ARAF are painted. I walked to this area yesterday to take a photo for today’s blog, but the words were very faded so I am using a photo which I think I took during my lockdown walks. Slow is a timely reminder for me right now.   Having talked recently about how important it is to balance self-care and to notice what you need, it almost surprised me that I wasn’t listening to myself. (I say ‘almost’ because I definitely heard the whisper of, you need a couple of early nights ! And instead of acknowledging the whisper I chose to ignore it. So my thinking went a bit like this... Feeling a bit more tired than usual?...

    A ROAD TRIP TO NEVERN   Listening Link  This morning there is frost on the grass. The chill dampens the scent of primulas, and the air carries elements of their perfume with a mixed in twiggyness.   Alt text says this week’s photo is a person standing in front of a stone pillar. I say it is Kath wrapped in her Nevern Blanket at The Nevern Cross in Pembrokeshire.   I have often been heard to say that the roads might be too busy on Bank Holiday Mondays for road trips, but not this time. This time I asked Kath if she wanted to come on a trip to celebrate her blanket design, and we drove the three-and-a-half-hour journey along the coast road to Nevern.   The roads dizzied my head, the sun shone, and Kath smiled. And it was the perfect road trip. There was a real joy to standing in the churchyard to photograph my wife next to this spectacular 11 th Century Cross. I took one hundred photos so that we could be ...

    BADGER POEMS, METAL SPOONS, AND GENTLE NODS     Listening Link This morning I stand under three aeroplane contrails to breathe the freshness of the air. The birds are singing the verses that come after dawn chorus, and somewhere far above me there are astronauts in darkness of the moon.   Alt text says this week’s photo is a bottle of pills and a red envelope. I say it is a pill bottle from the Poetry Pharmacy and that the theme for this particular bottle is ‘Badgered’ . I also say I am delighted to see my words unfurled from two of the capsules in this selection. I have been a fan of these ‘prescriptions’ for quite some time and love the variety of bottles on offer so it feels particularly cool to have words included.   This week I was dithering about which poem to record for Poem of the Month for my YouTube channel. Fortunately, April Fool’s Day gave me a much-needed inspirational nudge when Matthew MC Smith put out a pr...

    A TRIP TO LONDON TOWN     Listening Link This morning the air brings me the notes of new carpet off gassing in a Premier Inn and mixes in essence of chilled seaside town air. A soundtrack of traffic plays like urban waves in the background.   Alt text says this week’s photo is a person holding a book in front of a bookcase. I say it is me visiting the National Poetry Library in London and not being able to resist a photo with my second full collection of poetry Welcome to the Museum of a Life published by Black Eyes Publishing UK . I also say this feels particularly apt given that I am a guest on Helen O’Neill’s Coach Write podcast this week. We had a wonderful chat about coaching, poetry and the journey to having books in the world, and it felt good to be a guest. I like listening to people talk on podcasts and I like being asked to talk too. It also makes me chuckle that the episode will air on the first of April!   The mai...

    A DAFFODILESQUE DALEK, THE FIRST MOW AND THE MUSE   This morning the air mingles the scent of warm Premier Inn and fresh grass into a cloudy mix.   Alt text says this week’s photo is a yellow flower in the grass. I say it is my shadow featuring a midforehead daffodil. I also say I was rather hoping to create a daffodilesque dalek photo. I guess it is distinctly unlikely that alt text would come up with that description even if the photo was on point, but perhaps I also didn’t pull it off quite as I had planned. It was fun though and it was taken during my daffodil noticing/clear my head/have a think walk one sunny morning last week.   Jobs have been calling to me this week... “Look, the sun’s shining, if you clean me you can hang the washing out.” was the cry from the washing line. “You feel better with a haircut – what about us?” the mini lawns were imploring.   And at the same time my energy levels were feeling a little depleted, so reba...

STUNT GIRL  Listening Link This morning the air is delightfully fresh. I sense spring and I feel the contrast of what I breathe this morning with the city air I breathed at the weekend. It is wonderfully refreshing to stand still in the new day.   Alt text says this week’s photo shows a person smiling holding a book. It does indeed! And it is me, wearing a Stunt Girl t-shirt, holding a copy of Safety in Numbers .   Once when wearing this t-shirt I was asked by a stranger what my stunts were. I answered with, “I eat fire whilst unicycling.” This had them leaning in with, “Really?” before we both stood in a moment of disappointment as I admitted that this was in fact an untruth. This interaction, and the fact that I have also been asked if I am a trapeze artist, came to mind when I was writing the poem that I would submit to the Safety In Numbers project.   Each of the poets involved in the project, which was designed by Gill Connors, was sent a poem a...

THIS MORNING, WOOD PIGEONS   PodBean Listening Link This morning, wood pigeons are sounding their calls and I remember them heralding in the sunny days of my youth. The air carries definite hints of spring, and I call the scent raw floral as I am transported back to my time of harvesting daffodil bulbs. Last night’s mist has cleared and the day is beginning to be seen.   Alt text says this week’s photo is a group of books on a patterned surface. I say it is three elements of the post I received on Saturday. I also say it is an absolute delight (and indeed a rarity) to receive three wonderful things in the post on the same day. It also tied in well with my recent thoughts about surprise and anticipation. (More about the excellent book Safety In Numbers soon, but if you have read it or been to any of the launches so far you will know it is a thing of beauty. I heartily congratulate Gill Connors on bringing this book into the world.)   I’ll delve a bit into anticip...

BREATHING THE SCENTED AIR   PodBean Listening Link This morning a chorus from herring gulls welcomed in the morning, and the wind is swirling and mixing the scents of flowers and green.   Alt text says this week’s photo is a person holding a drink and a plate of food. I say it is me enjoying a sit down in a café at Chester Zoo with a drink and a doughnut after visiting a range of animals including a gorgeous tapir that seemed pleased that I told it that I thought it was gorgeous.   The first of March brought sunshine and gifted the perfect day to walk round The Great Orme in Llandudno. There were plenty of fresh smells to delight the senses for my sister and I. After the foodie smells from the doughnuts and onions on the pier, we had the herby scent of grass and gorse mingling with the fresh sea air as we headed round the coastal edge. There was a moment of pure contrast when a strong smell of fish puffed up from the cove below us where we had stopped t...