Love, from the hert, for Valentine’s day
Charles Duc d’Orleans (1394-1465) wrote this love poem for his wife, in 1415, after his capture at the Battle of Agincourt: Go forth, my hert, with my lady; Loke that we spare no business To serve...
View ArticleScared to say ‘I Love You’?
Last week Paul McCartney admitted to John Wilson on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row that he was scared to say ‘I love you’. Instead he wrote the words into a song for his wife, Nancy Shevell. The song, Scared,...
View ArticleSPEAKING of LOVE: an alternative Valentine ?
SPEAKING of LOVE is one of amazon’s Recommended Valentine’s Reads this week (10-17 February). Happy days. But please be warned: it is an alternative Valentine, one that asks why we find it so difficult...
View ArticleScared to Say I Love You this Valentine’s Day? Fabularium and Random Acts of...
If the very idea of saying I love you this Valentine’s Day scares you to death, may I suggest a remedy: ask yourself why you’re with (or want to be with) the one you love and then make a list …...
View ArticleJe Suis Charlie …
… one week on, what else is there to say but Je Suis Charlie and to stand with the murdered at Charlie Hebdo? Except Je Suis Ahmed.
View ArticleThe Brain in Love; and Jim Burge’s Burgeoning Promotional Videos for writers...
Dr Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist at Rutgers University, studies the brain, in love. She gave a glorious TED talk about it, here. I particularly loved Walt Whitman: Oh, I would stake all for...
View ArticleThe UK Referendum, Brexit, and Meike Ziervogel on the importance of listening...
On 1 July Meike Ziervogel, founder and publisher at Peirene Press, published this: Translation is Europe’s only common language. Umberto Eco It’s a thoughtful and thought-provoking piece about the UK...
View ArticleTheresa May, the Queen and Boris Johnson and, more seriously, Kent Haruf
A friend of mine sent me this sometime after the Brexit Bungle: There’s not much else to say, is there? On a much more serious note (and far wiser, kinder, more compassionate and life-enhancing), I...
View ArticleOur Christmas Tree: a work in progress … and The Connection at St Martin’s
My other half put our Christmas tree together yesterday (it has hundreds of branches, all with different colour codes, all with their own little slots in its metal trunk). He also strung the tree with...
View ArticleSocial media and the writer; Modigliani and Akhmatova
It’s wise for writers to have a social media presence these days. Publishers don’t exactly insist on it, but they like writers who have significant followings. (Followers equal interest in the writer...
View ArticleAnne Lamott’s Twelve True Things; and Human Libraries
Anne Lamott, whose Bird by Bird helped me immeasurably when I was writing my first novel, Speaking of Love (I was stuck, didn’t know what to write or how, but Lamott’s Bird by Bird dispelled my...
View ArticleShonaleigh Cumbers: Grief is Love with Nowhere to Go; and One Green Thing:...
Shonaleigh Cumbers is a Drut’syla. To quote from here: She’s a living tradition holder. It’s a tradition you probably won’t have heard of. It’s a tradition that flourished in Jewish families, but that...
View ArticleDeborah Alma’s Poetry Pharmacy: Poetry Prescriptions
Last week I had a telephone consultation with a pharmacist. Not an unusual thing to do in these corona-times, but this pharmacist doesn’t dispense drugs. Deborah Alma is a Poetry Pharmacist. Before...
View ArticleWhen This Is Over … and some Christmas Lights for the dark Winter Nights
When this is over, may we never again take for granted a handshake with a stranger, full shelves at the store, conversations with neighbours, a crowded theatre, Friday nights out, the taste of...
View ArticleFeeling Low? Try karunavirus. Seriously.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been feeling pretty low about the state of our corona-contaminated world (not to mention other depressing events) so I went looking for something uplifting. And I found...
View ArticleWhite Allies Network, and Black British History
On 2 September, I joined the White Allies Network. They are, as they say on their website: A network of people that are committed to learn and do what it takes to be counted true allies against racism....
View ArticleValentine’s Day Traditions
There are at least three different saints who answer to the name Valentine or Valentinus. One legend of St Valentine tells how, when in prison, he sent a letter to a young girl—possibly his jailor’s...
View ArticleUkraine: & how we can help #StandWithUkraine
Ukraine flag. Credit: Ayhan Altun/Getty Images click on the images below for links about where and how to donate money or supplies and how to support people directly. from the Guardian: from the BBC:...
View ArticleOlder women: Elder, not elderly
It’s getting close to mother’s day here in the UK (here’s a list of mother’s day dates worldwide) and that set me thinking about women and the different stages of our lives … and, naturally enough,...
View ArticleAn astonishing blind pianist
On Friday 8 September we heard Nobuyuki Tsujii (or Nobu to his many many fans). He played Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto at the penultimate 2023 Prom at the Royal Albert Hall. It was a virtuoso...
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