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, 23 December 2014
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......
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.
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.
Friday, 28 November 2014
Tuesday, 25 November 2014
25 November, 2014
An evening with David Hockney through a live film event downtown. Two hours documentary on his life and work --fascinating except music too loud, followed by an our long live interview from his LA studio.
He's doing reverse perspective and it's revolutionary! Over five hundred years after the vanishing point was discovered in western art in Italy, he shows that in fact the world comes towards us adn perspective widens out as it reaches us.
Once you see how it works, it changes your way of looking forever. Now we haven't got a vanishing point but a shifting viewpoint. That's because it's the digital age. Narrow focus, targets, in everything are not needed anymore. Widening focus and thought, with inclusiveness and connectivity, as we are not alone or isolated, and infinity ('God') is all around us, and part of us. Of course the East knew a lot of this, but they copied us. Only some have begun to listen to what they once knew.
Amazing stuff. Lots to think about. A women got up next to me, and said 'I love that man'. Older, he's still doing it and learning --that work is all that matters -- I see what she means.
An evening with David Hockney through a live film event downtown. Two hours documentary on his life and work --fascinating except music too loud, followed by an our long live interview from his LA studio.
He's doing reverse perspective and it's revolutionary! Over five hundred years after the vanishing point was discovered in western art in Italy, he shows that in fact the world comes towards us adn perspective widens out as it reaches us.
Once you see how it works, it changes your way of looking forever. Now we haven't got a vanishing point but a shifting viewpoint. That's because it's the digital age. Narrow focus, targets, in everything are not needed anymore. Widening focus and thought, with inclusiveness and connectivity, as we are not alone or isolated, and infinity ('God') is all around us, and part of us. Of course the East knew a lot of this, but they copied us. Only some have begun to listen to what they once knew.
Amazing stuff. Lots to think about. A women got up next to me, and said 'I love that man'. Older, he's still doing it and learning --that work is all that matters -- I see what she means.
Tuesday, 18 November 2014
Well Versed -- Cheltenham, 27 November, 2014
The night also includes an open mic, please come and share your work.
'We are delighted to welcome acclaimed poet Olivia Byard to Well Versed, on Thursday 27th November.
Olivia Byard's
third book The Wilding Eye, New and Selected Poems, will be published by Worple Press, next Spring. Her first, From a Benediction, was nominated
for the Forward First Book Prize. In 2011, her second, Strange Horses, met with critical acclaim. In three years she has had five poems published in the New Statesman.
The night also includes an open mic, please come and share your work.
Well Versed offers a warm and friendly atmosphere and the chance to meet other writers.
Well Versed with Olivia Byard. Thursday 27 November. 7pm. £5/4
The Muffin Man, Cheltenham. Gallery'
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