Deprived of the ordinary markings of days -drives to work, birthdays, people to celebrate -we clingmore fervently to organic signs,the constant shifts in the garden,which trees have blossomed,which ones have leaves,how tall the pea plant has grown,how white its petals.These and the aphids signal time:those and the snails migrating,the worms beneath the compost,the dead birdContinue reading “Extraordinary Time”
Category Archives: Poetry
Improvisation: Rain
In these days of lockdown (my city, Melbourne, is experiencing the toughest restrictions of anywhere in Australia so far), I have been finding myself drawing increasing inspiration from the small things that I notice in my local environment, looking ever closer and closer to the consolations of the everyday. This video poem came from aContinue reading “Improvisation: Rain”
Signs
Watchful, I spy the first buds,now only the flower’s potential,one day, soon – the fruit.Impatient, I come hereagain, again each dayto measure progress in the budding leafor to catchthe lemon in the act of ripening,quince in mid-blossom,almond in leaf.Wait, small heart.It lingers; wait.The signs are surethough August is fickle and eyes are sore.And God hasContinue reading “Signs”
Snowdrop
In Winter’s garden bed I saw you,plucky yet tentative,white bursting but drooping at the stem,head bowed in humble prayer,hopeful of the day to come,whispering its name.
We still have the river
We still have the river, after it all,running like a backbone though our home,flowing sure when all else is gone,we still have the river, still have the air.We still have each other, at the end of the day,grating on nerves, tired and numb,still have our hearts beating together,still have our days under the sun.And whenContinue reading “We still have the river”
After Curfew
Bins at the curb, I pausein a night of deep quietand catchthe thought that no-one else is here.Sleepy suburban street rarely parties;nights are seldom wild around here.Yet silence catches with surprise:no-one walking home from shops,no night-time joggers,no cars coming home.No feet sharing this curb with mine.And this weekly domestic act becomesa moment of strange resistance,aContinue reading “After Curfew”
Anno Domini: For the year 2020
Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation… 2 Corinthians 6:2 We did not choose you, would not repeat you.Grief has built upon grief: ash and smoke first,Then this, a time we can only call”Unprecedented”. And how it goes on,How quickly “normal” becomes a wordStripped of all meaning. How quicklyContinue reading “Anno Domini: For the year 2020”
God in all this: For St Ignatius of Loyola
“Our one desire and choice should be what is more conducive to the end for which we are created.”St Ignatius of Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises Even this, Ignatius?When all are in retreat in their homes,when consoling and desolating spiritsvy for the attention of every moment,when truth is in short supplyand what truth we have isContinue reading “God in all this: For St Ignatius of Loyola”
As yet untitled
As the changing but constant expectationsof a year that no-one chose keep knockingand the day of the Lord lingers and tarries from my watch-post,I longto take this one quietly, on the bench,with Saul and the others who couldn’t run the race.No shame in being worn out whenthe swift themselves are flaggingand the flagsare all atContinue reading “As yet untitled”
Till We Have Our Faces Back
First you will learn about smiles,how much you smile,what’s contained in a smile,what’s implied in the different degrees of smile:in a curl of the lip at a funny thought,in the mouth’s outstretched cornersto greet the close acquaintance, in the sardonic phrase,the empathic moment.All these things you will learnwhen they cannot be seen.And eyes. You willContinue reading “Till We Have Our Faces Back”
The Consolations of Writing 