poetry – OUTSIDER

Awakened by the mountain

July 25, 2021

It’s the strangest thing, to look back on events years after they’ve happened with new eyes. To see the woman I was from the perspective of this woman I’m becoming. Once the mountain speaks to you nothing can ever be the same, and yet I tried, I really tried so hard to keep everything the same. Until eventually I had to understand that it’s all the same. Do you believe in predetermination? That our outcomes are already set? Have you…

poetry politics

Just because

July 22, 2021

You’re adopting the patriarchal, colonialist mindset when you ignore your heart’s wilderness, or when you feel that you have the right to shape someone to your will; when you know what’s best, when you ignore or minimise or pander to power; when you forget yourself in the pursuit of external values, or worse – when you ask this of someone else. Text reads:Just because you don’t understand what someone’s doing – doesn’t mean they’re wrong. Just because you can’t see…

creating poetry

Empty your mind

July 10, 2021

Been thinking of this older poem lately. It’s from the Prophecy: conversations with my Self, pamphlet. Available now as free download from my webshop. Text reads: On knowledgeto speak simply is to think simply is to be simple: clarityto speak with complexity is to think with complexity is to be complex:foggyempty minds perceive vastness imagine the greatness of the universe hear the voices of the trees……

nature poetry

Summer tree connection

June 30, 2021

Following on from yesterday – a poem on connecting with summer trees. There’s a winter tree connection poem also up on the OUTSIDER blog – both are in The Slow-Time Traveller poetry pamphlet (link in bio).…

books creating dailyconnectionwithnature feature feminism poetry politics

Why I don’t love a pruned hedge

June 16, 2021

Hello friends,I’m aware that some people get a bit upset about my original use of grammar and punctuation. This is absolutely okay. I’m not the writer for everybody and I fully embrace that. However, instead of presuming that my writing is inferior because I don’t follow the rules, I wonder if they might consider the fact that writing this way is an act of rebellion – a way for me to fully embody this wild and natural world that inspires…

creating feature poetry travel

Sunrise at Stonehenge

June 15, 2021

Woken early by dreams, I watched the sun rise, wrote these words: Sunrise at Stonehenge I sit on this van-home stepas the sun rises overthe prehistoric Stonehenge monument last night I dreamedI became the stones(I walked right into them / my heart was called) I search for words(in the voice of three crows)and they are prophetic: How well do I know my heart?How can this knowing serve the whole? The polarisationof light & shadow is a rough knotof wood I…

dailyconnectionwithnature Europe family nature Outdoors poetry Uncategorized

poem for my father

May 30, 2021

View this post on Instagram A post shared by OUTSIDER [Sophie McKeand] (@sophiemckeand_outsider)…

family nature poetry

A day for sowing wildflower seeds

May 30, 2021

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books creating feature nature poetry

Sharing the work

May 3, 2021

Thank you so much again to everyone who continues to support the book! I’m so delighted. I had also set myself the challenge of reading the book in its entirety throughout May on my InstaTV, but realised quite quickly this isn’t something I have the creative capacity for at this time. A close family member’s health declined rapidly yesterday and I don’t feel I have the focus for so many things just now.I want to concentrate on spreading the word…

books creating feature nature poetry

book anti-launch is here!

May 1, 2021

Hello Friends! To be honest I’m all worded out right now. These past few months working with a copy-editor and proofreader have been wonderful and exhausting. Then these last few weeks were all about getting the book ready for e-readers, as well as sorting out the shop. Much to do when you’re doing it all by yourself. This is a bit of an anti-launch really – early Saturday morning on a bank holiday weekend, but I wanted a slow, quiet…

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