Working with the Woodland Trust on the necessary and vitally important Tree Charter has been an honour this past year. It is a beautiful reminder of how many people and organisations are out there fighting for trees. This poem was gifted by an oak tree on a visit to Bala this autumn. The trees are pretty quiet this time of year but if you find one who might like to connect please try this poem with them and let me…
The first few weeks of eating on the road are chaotic – our diet consists of takeaways, motorway service station food & posh noodles in pots while minds & bodies acclimatise to our new life. I’d dreamed of a long, slow process of choosing food at local markets & creating luscious, rich, food ad-hoc from our regular hauls, but December is flat out with performances, events & workshops & the kitchen is still upside down so that I don’t know…
{Notes on the second part of this visual performance poem. To be carried out a few days after part one, only once the threads from that process have faded completely.} Imagine a connection that is precious to you, a living being (person, animal, tree) something animate, something filled with life. Now think about why you love that person/animal/tree so much, ::Perhaps they hold cherished memories / or give you love / they make you feel safe:: Picture the memories &…
{Notes on a visual performance poem} Imagine the object that is most precious to you, Not a living being (person, animal, tree) But something inanimate, Something dead. Now think about why you love that object so much, ::Perhaps it is a cherished watch / a treasured picture / a hand-crocheted blanket:: Picture the memories & emotions you have invested In that object, imagine them weaving into one beautiful silver thread spinning out from your navel to reach it. Hold onto…
It is summer 2017 & I sit in our daughter, Rhiannon’s, bedroom. She moved out three years ago so this space should be empty except for a pile of belongings she didn’t want to take with her that I haven’t been able to give away, but still, over these intervening years we’ve managed to fill this room with stuff. On top of this our eldest, Isaak, left for university four years ago & decided to stay on after graduating. Since…
In the spring of 2017 two notable events happen. We finally take the plunge and buy the second-hand long-wheelbase hi-top Mercedes Sprinter that will become our home/office on wheels, and a pair of blackbirds appear in the evergreen climber opposite our kitchen window. Our rented house is a traditional end terrace with a long, narrow walled garden. We are not competent gardeners by any stretch of the imagination so cannot help but admire the work of the elderly gentleman who…
The decision to sell or gift everything we own that couldn’t fit into our Mercedes Sprinter LWB hi-top was both exhilarating & terrifying. As we leapt from the cliff face of our normal lives the months spiralled past in a dreamlike fashion. Our vision was to let go of the all the objects & toxic behaviour patterns that held us back while re-attaching ourselves to, or rediscovering, the things that sing to our hearts including friends, our creative spirits, family…