…of mortar and affectionwarmed by April suna drift of fragrance, cow’s breath and old hay,ripe cheese, pale grassesthe lightest scent of blossom and the lingerance of snow,and breakfast hearth-smoke… Distant crows are wheeling, cawing,coarsely calling admirationof the new-turned turf,of turning season, of turning, turning, turningin the sky above the oaks…The human touch of talkand laughter …
Author Archives: Ciel
Music of Childhood
I’ve just inherited my father’s record collection, and the slightly archaic device on which to play them–Hurrah! In fact, I was thinking sadly only a couple of weeks back about how much of the music I grew up with–ethnic and folk–simply isn’t played anymore, and that I could only hear, distantly, the echoes remaining in …
Midnight Musing
In the quiet after midnight,then my artistry awakesand in the dark when others sleep, then the fit of writing takesmy hand and mind, and bids me think…It skips and tumbles down the page,leaving in prints of pen-and-inkimages I never thought beforeand thoughts never imagined–They enter through the midnight doorfrom moon- and star-light fashioned.
Other Lives
I would not live foreverin a single suit of clothes.I would not careto memorizeforevereach stain and tearor keep track ofevery button lost. Thankfully, I forgetfrom time to time,the progressand the passageand the passagesthrough which I wend my way… The details ofhard lessons, happily,escape me like the pains of giving birth.It is enough, the thing I …
Tolkien Tribute: Epistle from Gandalf to Galadriel
I have a collection of poems written in tribute to JRR Tolkien over the 50+ years I have considered myself a Middle-earth expat. This one was written for a challenge on a Tolkien-related site Galadriel, I greet thee,a moment stealingfrom my Mannish guise,to speak as one-to-oneto one as old as Iand also wise… Here I …
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Spirit Rises
Struggling, striving,yearning towards the light, our passage isn’t always seenby those in passingeither way. We climb, we pause,we rest…and reach again… And though we dally here and there,or sleep a thousand years, or seem to die,we’re rising, always–Rising to the Light… 1980
Flash Mob
This reminds me… No matter what the politics or leadership, every country in the world has a lot of wonderful people who do wonderful things, who love beauty and music, and sharing joy. Let’s go out and find them! Let’s go out and be them!
Problems/Solutions
Some thoughts on problem solving All problems started as solutions. When considering new solutions, it’s useful to start with considering the problem to be solved, specifically, what problem was this intended as the solution for? As a writing coach, I tell writers, before you go breaking the rules, understand what problem the rules are meant to solve. …
“Under New Management”
Family, clan, tribe, city, state, nation… What comes next? And how soon is it coming? How soon before political entities have become obsolete as the drivers of human organization, and corporate entities take over the management of… well, everything? In fact, are we now living through the turning of the tide, that terrible, turbulent time …
Don’t Touch!
This love’s a testy thing bristled for defense against the world and pain: we give up ground for every gain– we go around, around– aground again… My friend, I see you there crouched along the spiral’s inner curve; I wish I could reach in and touch your heart but every nerve you own is raw– …
LOOSELY SPEAKING... 