Michael Longley on Radio 4

I found the interview with Michael Longley on Wednesday's programme of Front Row on Radio 4 extraordinary. You'll catch it about eleven minutes into the programme and it finishes at about 21 minutes in the programme.

Here is the link

Ringing the Changes

in the empty
summer garden the trees
ring out the changes

Meaning of ring the changes

To employ alternative methods.

This phrase derives from the practice of bell ringing. Each pattern of the order of striking the bells is called a change. In order to 'ring the changes' all the variations of striking pattern are rung, bringing the ring back to its starting point.

Bell-ringing is of course an ancient pastime and consequently the figurative use of this phrase is also old. Thomas Adams refers to it in The divells banket described in sixe sermons, 1614

"Some ring the Changes of opinions."

The term took on another meaning in the 19th century. While acknowledging that "the expression originally came from the belfry" John C. Hotten's A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words, 1859 glosses the meaning as:

Ringing the Changes, changing bad money for good; in respectable society the phrase is sometimes employed to denote that the aggressor has been paid back in his own coin, as in practical joking, when the laugh is turned against the jester."

Scavaging Ravens

scavaging ravens
like torn black rags -
scattered by the wind

Wind Swept

wind swept -
the trees are beckoning us
into the sky

Ewan MacColl - Dirty Old Town

Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seegar singing - amazing

Ewan MacColl - My Old Man

An extraordinary song

Red Roses

red roses
tethered to an anchor
of thorns

Red Rose

first roses
a glossy red clot
nodding in the breeze

Photo Red Rose by cheesy42

Christ Church Arts Weekend

Here is a link to a local paper. It carries a little review of the Arts Weekend and recital at Christ Church.

Kingston Guardian

Azaea snakes

azalea snakes
its way through the garden
sheds its skin of light

Christ Church New Malden Arts Weekend

Mallard and Mandarine

guardians
of the still pond
mallard and mandarin

Photo Mandarine Duck by paulafunnell

Easter Azaleas

this Easter azaleas
sun drenched - there are
a million ways to love

Details of an arts weekend in New Malden, Surrey

Azaleas

azaleas still
unfolding the colour of
turmeric and saffron

Photo Azaleas Richmond Park by Sibisson

Azaleas and God

azaleas -
God's toy of colour

azaleas -
God plays with red

Azalea Rainbow

azaleas
a rainbow laid flat
upon the earth

Maroon and Indigo

azaleas cloaked
in fleeting summer robes -
maroon and indigo

Azalea Tanka

April at
the still pond - each day
slowly
azaleas are building
their temple of colour

Photo Isabella Plantation by Fred Dawson

The Hunger Trace by Edward Hogan

Have I mentioned a new novel by a colleague of mine. 'The Hunger Trace' by Edward Hogan is a beautifully written novel set in a small Derbyshire village. The novel is centered around a wildlife park. Once owned by David Bryant who has recently and prematurely died - Maggie his lover, Louisa and old friend of David's and Christopher - David's teenage son struggle with the loss of David, the past, the stresses and strains of their relationships and the practicalities of running the park. It is a powerful evocation of rural life and strong emotions that threaten them all.

Kronos Quartet & Tanya Tagaq - A String Quartet In Her Throat

I've been fascinated by Inuit Throat Singing from Canada and Tuva in Russia since we went to a story telling festival dedicated to the North where we heard and watched these two musical cultures in action.

The CD Early Music by The Kronos Quartet is one of the most beautiful CD's I've ever heard. It includes an extrordinary piece called Uleg Khem played by Huun Huur Tu and the Kronos Quartet.

Here The Kronos Quartet colaborate with Tanya Tagaq from Canada.

Stunning.

Another Spring Haiku

azalea sleeps
in its bed of green -
wakes to magenta

Photo Magenta Azalea by Olaf

Another Spring Tanka

green azaleas
ghosts in grey morning mist
emerging scarlet
magenta and crimson
in the growing light

A Spring Haiku

purple azaleas
unfolding a thousand
butterfly wings

A Spring Tanka

radiant
white cherry blossom
and sea gulls
against dark branches
and grey shrouded sky

An Exhibition and Recital in Support of Christian Aid Week

To support Christian Aid, on Saturday 7 May from 10.00 till 5.00 at Christ Church New Malden there will be an exhibition of paintings and photographs by two local artists inspired by the seasons. The exhibition will be accompanied throughout the day by live music also inspired by the seasons. The church will be open all day on Saturday for visitors.

On Sunday 8 May at 3.00 there will be a recital of music and poetry using the seasons as its theme.

Entry to the exhibition and recital is free but all donations will go to Christian Aid.

To find out directions to the church follow this link

Here is a link to Christian Aid where you can find out more about Christian Aid Week and the work of Christian Aid.

Anyway here is a short poem to whet your appetite

A November Night Llanberis Pass

All night wild white water
clawed the slopes
of the pass,
glutted the streams,
engorged Llyn Gwynant –
bloated, black and heavy.

All night the mountain
reverberated like the tightened skin of a drum
with falling water.
The air torn in two
on Tryfan’s serrated edges.

And next morning
emerging out of grey light
smothered fields
blotted out along the river’s line.
And broken slates - grey glazed
splintered debris across the streets.

The Majestic Plastic Bag

I thought you might find this amusing and disturbing.

The Majestic Plastic Bag

Power of Ten

Watch this great video and animation. Lets try and keep things in th right perspective.Click here

I've suddenly thought of a great video to compare it to. Click here.

Big Yellow Taxi and Nothing but Flowers

I rather like the contrasts presented in these two songs.

Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchel and Nothing but Flowers by Talking Heads

Beauty

I found this on youtube and had to post it to my blog. Just click here.

Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate

Here is a New Year gift.

A video of Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate - amazing!!

New Year

Photo New Year Fireworks London by Mike Campbell

We watched the fireworks at the London Eye from about ten miles away. We parked the cars outside Richmond Park and walked through the predestrian gates at The Star and Garter on Richmond Hill. Then we walked a little way along the road towards Holly Lodge where during the day there is a great view over central and east London. We stood there looking out with around 100 other people.

The fireworks were amazing even from this distance. We drank Champagne, sang and watched Chinese Lanterns rise and drift east towards Roehampton and Sheen.

Happy New Year!!

winter solstice
all night
from rooftops to drains
the slow thaw
like the ticking of a thousand clocks

dawn
a bloom of bruised light
rises in the east

Some Christmas Carol Links

Here are a couple of links to some beautiful Christmas Carols I've been bumping into recently. I thought you might like them.

Watch this space more may follow.

The Holly and the Ivy performed by Loreena McKennit


The Holly and the Ivy performed by Sedayne


O Come O Come Emmanuel performed by Enya

I walk into thick fog
and bring back a poem

Blue Snow

at twilight
fields of blue snow
glowing


Photo Cold Winter Landscape by D Reichardt

on the glazed grey ice
splashed and dazzled
red tail lights

across the garden
where I've retraced my steps
the snow remembers me

in the hush of a grey dawn
snow is whispering


...


in the hush of a grey dawn
the hiss of snow
slowly falling

frost falling
like the soft paws of a cat
gently spreading

all night
disturbed by frost
softly falling

Sunrise reveals
fields dissolved
with frost

Autumn Leaves

mist stained yellow
with the leaves


Photo by Mike Epp

this night
wrapped up in sleep
and fog pressing at my window

Rememberance Sunday

our fragile silence
framed by cannon fire and
a lonely bugle's call
into mist

dead leaves collect
around the war memorial
the wind's wreaths

autumn twilight
even the gutters sing with
gusting tongues of fire

Photo Clogging up the gutter by Deannster

Waiting for the Frost

tonight I am waiting up for the frost
silently falling -
a white lining in the streets
the bronzed leaves glazed white

remembering frozen breath upon the window pane.


(c) David Loffman

Red Leaves Close Up

a patchwork wreath of rust red leaves

Photo Red Leaves by David Loffman

Art review Paul Gauguin at Tate Modern Maker of Myth

I didn't know much about Paul Gauguin before I went into this exhibition. But what I'd seen of his painting really impressed me. And this helped me feel sympathetic towards him. However coming away from the exhibition I realised I didn't like him at all. And sadly this has affected my thoughts about his work.

However there was much to admire. Firstly Gauguin is a painter of place. His work is embedded in the locations he works in. Whatever he chooses to be a subject, the landscape bursts out, at every opportunity with passion and with vitality. It is a living landscape. And his subjects - generally women, clothed and unclothed are extensions of this landscape. I realise actually that his feelings about landscape are deeply connected to the women he paints. Someone said to me onece that painting is a way of possessing and owning the subject. So the message of these paintings is one of possession and ownership. This was expressed both sexually in Gauguin,s personal life and politically in France's colonial projects in French Polynesia.

His representation of the elements is attractive. His work seems dominated by earth and fire, by vibrant reds and rich shades of green. He has a wide ranging vocabulary of colour, incredibly attractive, it draws the eye. I am captivated by it. I am referring specifcally to the modern abstracted 20th century landscapes rather than the post impressionistic detailed painting of the earlier 19th century work. At times the earth is infused with fire, the earth glows; the earth is a thin transparent skin that covers the earth’s furnace below. The earth feels like a simmering volcano ready to explode and bathe everything with warmth. And yet I am aware of the awe and attraction of violence. I'm attracted to the monochrome oil seed rape fields on May and June. perhaps it's the uniform lines, the blanket, garish colour. And I know it is a form of violence, an expression of power and control of the land. It is the power of the tyrannt. A male power that wants to subdue and control.

I'm also attracted to his depictions of people including women. I don't think it is a sexual thing. For he infuses his figures with a vitality and a life of there own. I don’t know how he does it. Perhaps it is there posture, their body language or the colours or tones he uses. The painting I've posted above I think is exraordinary. There is something quite masculine about these women. The build is solid and broad. But the faces are touched with a individuality, a life force of their own.