Every Sunday I rise at 5am to prepare for the morning services, which are 7am and 9.30am. I am seriously considering making this a daily habit (rising at 5am not conducting services). I normally rise between 6am and 6.30am anyhow, but that extra hour affords so much that can be beneficial to the beginning of [...]

Dense I desire this loaded day tightrope of fire I walk from the semiconscious fudge between the was and when and here and now each step a trembling word laced lazily together unfolding the dream dreadged [sic] from half remembered moments smiling at the sun embracing the thin ledge between light and dark bright and [...]

Woke up to discover that JD Salinger died yesterday aged 91. I came to his classic Catcher In The Rye quite late but it made a big impact on me. I recently gave a copy to my son who read it in about two days and has since been gorging himself on novels having previously [...]

Following the advice of Adrienne Rich from yesterdays post and thinking back to an email conversation I had with a friend about automatic writing I tried a little experiment as I sat at my ‘typewriter’ (aka MacBook). I asked myself two questions without really thinking too much and then, without looking at the keyboard, I [...]

I stalk the shelves of the secondhand bookstore and there it is – the hidden treasure long time long for – bonus and bounty of patient searching. The book is Adrienne Rich’s Poetry and Prose – pure bargain now prized possession. I open randomly and she gives me some good counsel; Try sitting at a [...]

Final day of a few days away by the sea and the sand. I’m reading Dad by William Wharton. I’ve had it a while and tried to read it numerous times without success. This is not because it is poor. On the contrary, he is an exceptional writer. It’s the subject matter (which is obvious [...]

Lying back in the sand I open my eyes to the big blue sky just as a sea eagle glides lazily into my vision. Broad brown wings outstreched cruciform aginst he faintest cloud forming high above. And in the cloud Jesus whispers, “Up, up off your back and dance in the foaming waves that wash [...]

Salt the sea spray Stings my lips sweetly Sharp the sand Sings between my toes Dry palm fronds Lay like huge femurs From some forgotten age Hot the heat of the sun Shining across my shoulders Lingering long enough To burn me brown Sweet summer day

Close by my favourite bench where I try to start each day there is a table with many framed photographs of our children at different stages in their lives. Set in the middle of them is a small stone with the word HOPE deeply engraved into it. It’s our little shrine I guess to our [...]

Reading from an anthology of poems I came across a poem by William Blake; Eternity He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity’s sunrise. It caused me to ponder the long accepted fact that if we wish to hold [...]