Sometimes beautiful things come to you from out of the blue and they make you smile. This is a piece by my friend Moushumi Bhomik incorporating sections from a poem of mine. The photo is of us travelling on the overnight train from Kolkata to Jalpaiguri in 2018. Her words about it are below. I’m so lucky to know such lovely, creative people. “Song for My Father, with Sophie MckeandI met Sophie, a beautiful poet and spoken word artiste, in…
on borders and ecosystems
February 17, 2020Sophie McKeandIn response to a week-long creative residency at the National Trust’s Chirk Castle, Jan/Feb 2020 To ascend the steep, tree-lined, bird-song-filled lane and face Chirk Castle’s imposing portcullis entrance, is to do no less than to hike through centuries of time. Multifaceted layers hang like bright linen sheets in the morning fog of these borderlands, of y ffîn, so that if you slow down for long enough you might feel a slight caress on the cheek, or a brush…
I’ve been sitting with a small river & waterfall in Caerwys this week, or standing on the shoreline at Talacre, tuning into the white noise. Sometimes I hear it as a roar, sometimes a whisper, but it’s always there, the voice of nature, humming away in the background. This is an early poem from the Prophecy: conversations with my Self pamphlet, an old recording of it is on Soundcloud (link here).…
Although I’ve shared a deep connection with trees over the years I purposefully haven’t sought out the oldest or most famous trees when we’ve visited a place. Why? My reasoning was that it felt fake doing so. They’re not tourist attractions. Then, as usual, something happened to turn my perception on its head. I stumbled across a 400 year old oak in Slovenia this week, the oldest in this valley, and have visited a few times. Yesterday this tree showed…
Love this photo from our recent walk around Venice. Thanks @andyrgarside ❤️ (I don’t usually like pics of myself) also love this handmade dress I got for £13 in Oxfam Liverpool ✊ #loveeurope #vanlife #traveller #fieldrecordings #sound #water #waterpoet #poetlife #exploretocreate #liveauthentic #nomad #digitalnomad #creativelife #creativelifehappylife #buylesslivemore #venice #citywalk #slowlife #slowliving #cleancity #inspiringplaces #recycle…
Listening to glacial melt
September 27, 2018Love my mini Zoom for when I quickly want to capture a specific sound. The bees are a choir buzzing around dad’s fuschias this morning ??? #dailyconnectionwithnature day106 #bees #sound #fieldrecordings #fuschia #pink #flowers #lovebees #beefood #sunnymorning #outdoors #zoom #shotgunmic #busybee #listen #slowdown #dreamer #slowtime #flower #collector #buzz #getoutside #outsideeveryday #exploretocreate #momentsofmine #quitthechaos…
Putting together the crøwoman show I’ve felt the need to post photos of rehearsals. I’m admittedly an oversharer but, on reflection, another part of this is proving that I’m doing this by myself. This might sound a bit ridiculous but in the past people have congratulated men on some of the tech aspect of a performance of mine when they literally had only the vaguest thing to do with a project. It is important that artists get the credit…
I’ve been dreaming of India again as plans are underway to return in November. Last year was my first visit and I was completely unprepared for the profound effect the country would have, and have been trying to process it since returning. I’ve been performing the piece below live for the past year, it’s two poems: the first, Morning Prayer, was written after getting up at 5am to float in a rowboat on the Ganges as the sun rose; the…