poetry appreciation

walking with bears (or, seeing while walking)

Oct 21, 2021 awareness, Catherine Pierce, Clarion the Bear, climate, climate change, climate disaster, cop 26, environment, glasgow, Pierce, pilgrim, pilgrimage, planet, responsibility by Lucy Crispin

To be more precise: one bear. On Wednesday I was, briefly, part of a Climate Pilgrimage in which a polar bear and his companion are walking from Shropshire to the Cop 26 in Glasgow. Seeing all ten feet of Clarion the Bear being moved with great care and tenderness along Kendal’s busy main street was profoundly, unexpectedly moving: all that attention being lavished on one, vulnerable creature—he looked so ectopic in the blare and bustle of town—while the actual vulnerable creatures are unprotected. It was simultaneously beautiful and appalling.

poetry appreciation

the white stuff

Jan 21, 2021 awareness, Louis MacNeice, Macneice, numinous, Prayer Before Birth, presence, realisation, Revelation, Snow, snowing, spiritual by Lucy Crispin

Another term for cocaine, apparently; but I’m not suggesting we take things that far. It may or may not have been a white winter where you are, but in case it hasn’t, here’s Louis MacNeice’s magnificent poem on the subject to remind you of what ‘Snow‘ can do to us.

poetry appreciation

responsibility

This poem, ‘Passive Voice‘ by Laura Da’, jumped out at me the other morning when I soothed myself with poetry after the morning engagement with the news. The poem attached itself to thoughts about the acceptance and refusal of responsibility; thoughts of “transparency” and accountability, and obfuscation. I wonder if it will strike a chord with you too?

poetry appreciation, reflection

reading poems, reading us

Last week we were talking about how Gilbert’s ‘Failing and Flying’ makes visible all sorts of assumptions embedded in our (Western) culture. This week, I want to think about how reading makes visible things inside ourselves, which we may or may not have been aware of. And I want to start with what I think is a remarkable poem, written by my 13 year old goddaughter. It formed the front page of a card she sent me a few weeks ago. Here it is:

Tag: awareness

walking with bears (or, seeing while walking)

the white stuff

responsibility

reading poems, reading us