One Hundred Words About A Desert

It is four O’clock in the morning. It is dark and the air is biting. Either the sky has begun to brighten or I have got used to the dim predawn light.

I can only hear our sleepy, dry voices. Out there in the thin light is silence and beyond that the broken wall of rock that drops down into the canyon, hundreds of meters below.

Then the sun comes like a knife over the mountains. And I stand in the shadow of the earth. Soldering light scolds the cracked rock. I watch my own shadow forming – in an instant.

One Hundred Words About A Forest

Once there was a forest that stretched all the way to the sea. It was vast, unbounded. Hills and valleys were hidden in its folds. Streams flowed through that land and deep, silent pools settled in its shadows. Here Pike and Carp grew undisturbed in clear water. Great English Oaks grew and stretched out their branches over the ponds and hidden in forgotten groves grew Elm trees, tall, strong, majestic. Among the young Oaks deer grazed and sheltered in the tall ferns that grew among the clearings. And I’d heard that Boar, Bear and Wolf roamed the valleys and hills.

One Hundred Words About Sunday

We’re on holiday for a week. So we don’t need to rush. I got up at seven thirty to read the paper in peace for a couple of hours. Katy was unwell so she stayed at home with Iona while l went to church.

Then we all had lunch with old friends. We had not seen them for years. It was good to catch up.

At home by five thirty and went to work on putting up bookshelves on the landing. We unpacked about fourteen boxes of books and are beginning to make some space in the study at last.

One Hundred Words About Too Many Words

There was an open evening on Tuesday.

I stood at the English Literature stand and waited.

At five I started talking to parents and I did not stop until eight thirty. As each party left a new one came. Sometimes I looked up to see three or four other groups listening to me.

At other times I looked up and saw my colleagues and parents directing other parents in my direction.

It was an extraordinary evening, parents were impressed by my summaries and enthusiasm and colleagues were impressed with my energy.

It was exhausting and exhilarating. I didn’t sit once.

Sleepy

It feels like a heavy fluid weight that shifts position inside me so it almost throws me off balance with each step I take. I have to check myself, force myself to keep control. If I stop and sit still, the world dissolves and fades out behind my lead eyes that close and embrace the darkness. Sleep is so close to me I feel I could reach my hand out to it. I feel I could unlock my grasp of the day, and let myself fall – warm muffled thoughts. Silence, soft embrace, a sweet lingering taste, cradled, dark and hidden.

Poetry Reading Details

The Poetry Library | Events | Poetry Readings

check out this listing for the poetry reading on the 29 November

Note of Absence

Dear Reader, David has not been able to blog recently. Firstly, he has the most demanding timetable he has had. He teaches from nine till five twice a week and nine till four twice a week. He is teaching six A level courses – most years it has been three or four.

The family have been looking at secondary schools in the evenings and trying to decide what schools to apply to for the children.

At weekends we have been stripping doors, stripping walls, painting walls, hanging shelves, neglecting the children and unpacking boxes.

I hope normal service will resume soon.

One Hundred Words to Pam

Dear Pam it was a shame we could not talk this morning but we were just going out to my mother’s for lunch, to say goodbye to my aunt from Australia. Her last and only other visit to London was in 1978. However I remember the first time still vividly. We went to the Tate in Pimlico to see an exhibition of Blake’s paintings, like walking through a nightmare. She was and is an incredible woman. There is something very special about her. We struck up a friendship immediately and twenty-eight years of absence did not seem to diminish that.