Language as anchor and mooring
Heaney uses several maritime metaphors in discussing a poem set in a sea-faring culture. Here he refers to speech that...
A visitation from a minor god
The past is a place which enriches me in almost all I do, and I love travelling there as much...
A weight of glory
Merry Christmas if you celebrate it, and if you don't, may you in any case enjoy bright stars and their...
The pitfalls of childhood
What a sad commentary on the wounds we inflict on children before they are equipped to comprehend what has happened...
Joys unsung and untold
At winter's advent, a reminder of its beauty and magic. May you be safe and warm within the stronghold.
For...
It’s New Year’s Day – call someone!
This made me laugh on the one hand – a funny image to receive a phone call from a dog...
Up and out at dawn
Orlando, who at this stage in her 400 year life has only quite recently woken up to find herself transformed...
All about revolutions
Fine understatement given how many billions of human hours have been lost obliging people to listen to revolutionary speeches.
‘That is slightly...
Gift-bearing ambassadorial winds
Having a love of Persian poetry, known only through translation, and of Chinese poetry, engaged with tentatively and carefully in...
Benign in his bowels
Don't worry, this is just a metaphor for people who are cloyingly, invasively kind and try to absorb you into...
Letters on a clothes line
Picasso seems to have had an ambivalent relationship to letters. He tortured himself by reading tirades from his ex-wife, and...
The massive effects of slight coincidences
I liked this notion that centuries, as much as individuals, can be greatly affected by apparently insignificant coincidences, or even...
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