River Lane

River Lane

for Pam

I do not know much about gods; but I think that the river 
Is a strong brown god—sullen, untamed and intractable, 
Patient to some degree, at first recognised as a frontier;
Useful, untrustworthy, as a conveyor of commerce;
Then only a problem confronting the builder of bridges. 
The problem once solved, the brown god is almost forgotten 
By the dwellers in cities—ever, however, implacable.
Keeping his seasons and rages, destroyer, reminder
Of what men choose to forget. Unhonoured, unpropitiated
By worshippers of the machine, but waiting, watching and waiting.

From The Dry Salvages by T. S. Eliot

Almost midnight at the end of River Lane.
An old stump of road that ends in water.
And found a battered old transit
and a man and his guitar
playing alone into the darkness.

We came to bless this river
to pour out our libation of words upon its waters.
But we stopped to listen to his songs.

A voice sharp and clear
like an arrow blade into the night air
returning to us clean and pure
reverberating off the far bank of trees.

A voice woven with water and moonlight.
And in our listening
all things seemed lifted up
made new on this mild summer night.

An anointing.

We slipped out of ourselves and time
as we stood and listened.


© David Loffman

Two Moons

two full moons
rising - double glazed from a
bedroom window

Sun Rise West

sun rises in the west
from a thousand reflected
suburban windows

Playing for Change

Here is a link to a campaign / project I thought you might be interested in.

Click here for a musical treat.


And click here for the Playing for Change website.

On The Memorial Statue of the Rainbow Division by James Butler

At the Summer Exhibition 2011 Royal Academy, Piccadilly, London.

“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Look around and see….”

Lamentation 1:12


In transit from Scottish foundry
to Picardy battle field –
the Croix Rouge Farm Memorial.
A bronze statue of an
unblemished soldier
carrying a dead comrade
laid across his arms.

In London -
a brief station of remembrance.
It forms an awkward cruciform of bodies,
commands its own vortex of silence
among the summer visitors
who come and go
through intermittent July rains.

I stare up at this bronze cenotaph.
And as it rains again
I see the bayonet
silvered with water
slung over his shoulder
and follow the soldier’s bowed head down
to the cradled body.

An offering.

And I imagine his slow insistent march South
to that remote farmhouse
its undisturbed fields
clogged with mud
where only a few will come.

The rain is beading down
the bronze bodies
Water falls from the bandaged head
and unmarked dog tags.
And suddenly I hear
the chimes of Fortnum and Masons striking eleven
and the roar of traffic on Piccadilly.


Click here to take you to the website about this statue

Ripples Stained Glass

slow ripples
on the still pond - like
stained glass

Red Stag Woods

the stag’s
guttural roar
as if the trees were speaking

...

the Red stag’s
guttural roar
as if the woods were on fire


Photo Red Deer Bull by Ben Bawden

At Camber

the slurred landscape shifts
I'm walking into grey

Photo by Alex Bienfait

Kubla Khan's 'pleasure dome'

Do you think Kubla Khan's "pleasure dome" is a Yurt?

"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
a stately pleasure-dome decree:"

A Flock of Geese

a flock of geese
fly into a power line
and light the night sky

True Grit

I've just watched the 2010 Coen Brothers film 'True Grit'. An absolute masterpiece.

Summer Haiku

We are now half way through the holiday. Here are a few haiku. They are not arranged in any order. Hope you like them.

in morning
light I’m reading
Siddhartha
...


evening light
lays upon the deer park
like a feather
...

water flows
over stones – recalls all
the fallen rain
...

water flows
over stones – reflecting
on the rain to come
...

at either end
of the still pond
shrill water
...

at the still pond
the echos of children
playing elsewhere

...

hidden in
a green labyrinth
children playing

...

after rain
air moves through the house
fresh and cool

This looks amazing. There feels something deeply spiritual in this act don't you think?

Water Chimes

water chimes
over stones - so quickly
the summer passing

Japanese Maple

I'm dry under
the Japanese Maple
watching rain


Photo Japanese Maple 1 by saynine

Enceladus by David Loffman

This is the poem I read at The Troubadour last night.Two things to note. Enceladus is one of Saturn's moons. In 2005 the Cassini probe discovered cryovolcanoes - volcanoes that erupt ice. This ice forms a ring around Saturn known as the e ring.The second point to note is the Roman myth of the God Saturn for whom it was prophesised that one of his children would kill him take his place. As a result Saturn devoured his children when they were born. Goya's painting of Saturn Devouring His Son seems to depict the horror of this act pretty well.


In Saturn’s hinterland
among the trapped
rubble of moons and rings
are the discarded bones
of all Saturn’s murdered children.

Cryovolcanic moon Enceladus
scatters a ribbon of ice
a littered disc of frozen tears.

Drawn from water
under the moon’s crust
stretched by the pull of the planet
the tidal currents of its oceanic mantle.

Water crushed by tectonic plates
and venting from chambers
of the moon's interior
as plumes of ice

that rises and forms
a thick torc of ice
ringing the gas colossus.
Renewed with every orbit
thickening to a blinding white smog.

A bright bead of light
circling Enceladus
drags its shackle of cryomagma
weeping a trail of grief
for all Saturn’s victims.

Stary Stary Night - The End of Season Party at The Troubadour

I'm reading at the end of season party at Coffee House Poetry, The Troubadour, 263-267 Old Brompton Road, London SW5. The theme of the evening is space, planets, stars, comets, moons, galaxies, space - the final frontier.

Monday 11 July

It starts at 8.00 finishes around 10.00 and costs about £5.00 to get in. May be see you there.

Here is a link. Coffee-House Poetry

David

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!!