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2022-23 Winter Input
I've been meaning to do this for a couple of months, but during that time Christmas has come and gone, then I've packed to move house, moved to the countryside and prepped for minor surgery. So no wonder I haven't had time to put thoughts to paper. I'm settled into our country house now and the quiet is welcome. This is what I've put into my brain from December 2022 to the end of February 2023.
Lights
The sky and each moment expands
as I observe it. I've forgotten the season
but the single layer of skin on my fingers
remembers. I am an uncertain brittle being,
standing under the galaxy, watching your sighs
form the briefest of clouds. A distant owl calls.
I'm not prey, not tonight.
Fly Away
I am hauling all our rugs, books,
house plants, our glasses wrapped
in bubble wrap and old duvets ,
all our memories neatly boxed up,
every object we own all jumbled,
carrying from the borrowed van
into our new home. I am bending
at the knees. I am judging the structural
stability of cardboard to ensure
our horde will stack. Tessellation
is essential. My shoulders radiate
like embers. Your nerves are glowing
filaments of thin tungsten.
The Revolution Will Biodegrade
Part Time
I maintained the gears of the moon as a university job. On my empty days, I polished the levers, tightened the cranks and ensured there was enough oil to guarantee a smooth rise. At night, the company had a whole team on standby for the show, but during the day I was left alone with the machinery, inside a vast and echoing warehouse. My jobs did not take very long. I was a glorified security guard. Most of my shift passed in the staff room, deep under the surface, surrounded by the whirr and sigh of complex systems I could barely understand. I ate my tuna sandwiches, read terrible sci-fi novels, listened to music on my half broken walkman held together by duct tape and watched money for my studies crawl up in a ticker inside my head.
Midwinter
Fresh frost has visited overnight,
morning shudders, barely starts
Our fallow fields now writhe with blight.
Fresh frost has visited overnight,
We have lost colour from our sight-
like fools, we hold hope in our hearts.
Fresh frost has visited overnight,
morning shudders, barely starts.
Dawn Chorus
Blackbirds sing from the only tree
left standing on land scrubbed clean.
I am watching these buildings awake
as hidden beaks and wings call to light;
Alchemical
2022 in Review: Personal Reflections
Following on from last week's year in review post, which was more political in nature, I thought I would take some time to reflect on last year from a personal perspective. Each year I go through the Year Compass as a ritual to close down the last year and set goals for the next, so this post is informed by that.
2022 in Review: Weaponised Nostalgia
Another year of political chaos, with three prime ministers, war in Ukraine and a cost of living crisis. It has been a lot. Instead of returning to relative stability, the ripple effects of lockdowns have continued to have a huge impact and will likely reverberate for years to come.