Tuesday 23 December 2014

Happy Christmas.

Interrupted Journey

The jolting was too much for her
and twice they stopped while she retched.
Silence stretched ahead, as though
they swam into it: eerie echoes muffled
by breeze-tides. Stars, not a star lit the way.

The pains began at dawn and he found
shelter. She was racked for hours,
torn by waves of it: until the child
broke the banks of her with head –
on a flood of arms, legs, swam into air.

Her dreams grew big as griffin’s wings,
flew around the shabby roof-tops:
until the man with myrrh arrived.
The baby whimpered, and the moment ebbed;
she felt her milk flow in; cried.

 Olivia Byard. 
(From a Benediction)

Tuesday 16 December 2014

16 December, 2014

It has been pointed out to me that I should say I comment several times a week on Mary Beard's TLS Blog: A Don's Life, and have for a few years now.

I like the way Mary uses her scholarship to bring the Classics into our world and throw fresh light on it. She tells us about the every day life of Romans and Greeks, which is much more interesting than endless war stories.
I also enjoy her take on the many things that happen in her life. This gives the members of the blog a chance to take the discussion and let it range where it will......

I've said her blog is about developing thought. For me it's relaxation, as others do Sodoku. But I enjoy the way we discuss and argue....etc.

So, if anyone happens to be interested, today's comments after Mary's visit to hear the Carols recorded includes:
King's College itself, the Carols, the Chapel, its architecture, the Rubens,
old vs contemporary English in religious language, the light there, wider and narrower thought, food banks, Christmas songs, sacred and not, advent vs Christmas carols, the contemporary relevance of organised religion, etc......etc......

Saturday 13 December 2014

9 December, enjoyable evening reading to Oxford Stanza 2 and talking to them.
That is the last reading for this year.


HOWEVER:
Plans now made for:

The second 'Readings to spark Reflection and Discussion'
Olivia Byard,  Rory Waterman, and Andrew Smardon

Themes: 1. Parents. 2. Dislocation

Albion Beatnik Bookshop Oxford, 3 February, 2015, 7.30pm
Last time was great fun. Rory is an excellent poet, critic, and editor.
If you're near Oxford that evening, do come along.