There are many lurkingplaces in the mind and many nooks… The old man is covered up in a thousand wrappings. (Lancelot Andrewes, Preces Privatae) Open the door. Let sun expose dust, moth-eaten wool and mould around cornices. Years of grime collect on window frames; you forgot that the sideboard had an underneath. And there tooContinue reading “Spring Cleaning”
Category Archives: Poetry
Broken Syllables
We know little of the creature, till we know it as it stands related to the Creator: single letters, and syllables uncomposed, are no better than nonsense. (Richard Baxter) Al- In the beginning was the Word. Pha And we too were words, the sounds of breath from His lips: Adam Let us make Image LikenessContinue reading “Broken Syllables”
Little Brother
Will this be your first? they ask. So what do we say? That before you was another who got lost on the way? Unviable, out of place, yet loved, oh how loved. How do we name the agony of hidden loss, and a treasure held only by us? No: not only us. For before thereContinue reading “Little Brother”
Retreat
…you will not find my actual life in these pages so much as my thoughts on the graces Our Lord has given me. I have reached the stage now where I can afford to look back; in the crucible of trials from within and without, my soul has been refined, and I can raise myContinue reading “Retreat”
Unownable Things
It’s become a bit of a tradition for me to write gratitude lists on my birthday, yet each year it feels like I am discovering gratitude anew. While I always remember doing it the previous year, it never comes naturally to me. Instead, I find myself thinking that another strategy might be better this yearContinue reading “Unownable Things”
Philosophical Crumbs: Haiku for Kierkegaard
A friend of mine recently said that he had tried to read Kierkegaard but hadn’t made it. “I need the children’s book version,” he said. Probably not an unusual experience. While I’m not sure I’m the one to provide the children’s book, I thought I could do the next best thing: to try to putContinue reading “Philosophical Crumbs: Haiku for Kierkegaard”
Clutching at Light: For Leonard Cohen
…everything that is illuminated becomes a light… (Saint Paul) Too dark, Leonard. Just after Solstice, the days still short, the dark surprised me in its early arrival, and your first song grabbed me with its midnight-pitch grip, and Isaac bound by demons, crying, Here I am, Lord. These days are dark enough; I turned fromContinue reading “Clutching at Light: For Leonard Cohen”
Melbourne CBD, Tuesday morning
Never here normally – not at this time, when people whose lives have rhythms different to mine disembark into days of meetings, close shaves and private experiences in close-huddled streets. Never here normally. My day is suburban. My schedule’s the school bell. On other days I walk with books and lesson plans in hand; todayContinue reading “Melbourne CBD, Tuesday morning”
Light and Momentary
True – but the wait weighs heavily now. So many delays, and you can expect more road blocks through the coming weeks as rolling closures right across the north-west make violent signs of little worth. Light and momentary? Perhaps; so, at least, we trust, yet faith not sight must rule the game if there’s toContinue reading “Light and Momentary”
Meditation
If it had roots, the pulling-out would be easy, but, being rhizome, it tangles its way far, far out, as though sending emissaries, ambassadors; but which way do they travel? Do they depart or return? The beginning hides sneekily under soil, like a power-line, a waterpipe, some subterranean transport network, while the visible growth burstsContinue reading “Meditation”
The Consolations of Writing 