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

an independent ambassador for conscience

Here’s Ellen Hinsey on poetry: ‘Poetry is the conscience of a society… No individual poem can stop a war—that’s what diplomacy is supposed to do. But poetry is an independent ambassador for conscience: it answers to no one, it crosses borders without a passport, and it speaks the truth. That’s why… it is one of the most powerful of the arts”. Given what’s been going on in the world these last couple of weeks it feels like one of those too-apt-to-be-a-coincidence coincidences that I should meet Hinsey’s words in the same week as someone should bring to the 42 group Larkin’s ‘Homage to a Government’.

poetry appreciation

how things change

Feb 25, 2021 change, Denise Levertov, growing, hope, hopeful, Levertov, mutuality, peace, possibility, responsibility, shared, sharing, society by Lucy Crispin

I seem to be a bit preoccupied with responsibility at the moment, and once again I’m sharing a poem which concerns it: Denise Levertov’s consideration of how we might go about ‘Making Peace‘. (You can have it read to you here.)

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

temporarily moving in the same direction

I love being on trains; or I did, BC. Like everyone else in the world I’ve crossed out many trips and treats from my diary over the last 8 months, and it seems such a long time since I enjoyed that licence-to-drift which train travel affords. So I was delighted to discover ‘Poem for Passengers‘ by Matthew Zapruder. It really captures the experience for me. See what you think.

Tag: responsibility

walking with bears (or, seeing while walking)

an independent ambassador for conscience

how things change

responsibility

temporarily moving in the same direction