I bend to it willingly, this patch of earth and its green things, in their own world (though I hold the title to it) hungry for life…” – from ‘After’ by David Malouf We planted daffodil bulbs yesterday, the kids and I. Fingers in dirt, carefully. Now we water, and wait for them to bloom, […]
“There is not city But the city within. No door, but the door To simple wisdom. We walk, dumb As newborns. Into the tremendous and endless Blessing.” – from ‘The Hinge’ by Cynthia Cruz Last night was sweltering, the heat of the day barely letting up. And despite their exhaustion, the kids weren’t interested in […]
Something woke me, something feathered up against me in a dream. Perhaps its soft tip of wing skipped across my face…” – from ‘Butterfly Kisses’, Ian McBryde We have a Saturday morning family ritual. We wake up early, the kids tumbling into our bed for cuddles and giggles, burrowing deep under the blankets to ward […]
… again the emerald green pallu of her sari tucked in at her hips, across her breast, and cough it up over her shoulder a hush of paprika and burnt honey across my face. — from ‘Wrap’ by Aimee Nezhukumatathil India is unrelenting and wildly beautiful. It is an endless array of colour and […]
“…balance of humors, coconut liquor thinned / by broth, sour pulp of tamarind / cut through by salt, set off by fragrant / galangal, ginger, basil, cilantro, mint, / the warp and woof of texture…” – from ‘Hot’ by Craig Arnold Lately, both kids have been climbing into our bed at various points through the […]
Spoon of everyone. Spoon of the belly. Spoon of the empty belly. Spoon of the full one. Spoon of no one hungry. Spoon for everyone. — from ‘Spoon Ode’ by Sharon Olds I’m writing this sitting at our wooden kitchen table, early on a Friday afternoon. The big window above the bench is overlooking a grey […]
come on sweetheart let’s adore one another before there is no more of you and me — from Fountain of Fire, Rumi It’s Monday evening as I write this, cool enough for the first time this year to be wearing socks and a jumper. The kids are asleep, their soft breathing barely audible from the next […]
If you’re not interested in a quick side of politics with your panzanella, scroll down now. If you are, though, let’s take just the briefest of moments to celebrate the solidarity, where around the world millions of women stood up against racism and hate-mongering, stood up for the rights of the marginalised. Critique and reservations […]
Her chariot is an empty hazelnut Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub, Time out o’ mind the fairies’ coachmakers. And in this state she gallops night by night Through lovers’ brains, and then they dream of love; – from ‘Romeo & Juliet’, Shakespeare First up, an apology. Things have been sporadic and rather […]
The half-circle of blinding, turquoise ocean is this love’s primal scene. That this blue exists makes my life a remarkable one, just to have seen it. To have seen such beautiful things. from ‘Bluets’, Maggie Nelson I’m reading Maggie Nelson’s cult novella Bluets at the moment. 240 short stanzas ruminating on love and life and […]
