In Glooming May

For I have tried

The wardrobe door and looked inside

And seen the souls of all who’ve died.

And I have looked beneath the bed

And seen the multitudes of dead.

And I have looked beneath the doormat

And seen their everlasting torment.

                          

                *                   *                   *

Open Studios weekends in Stroud, Saturdays and Sundays 10^th -11^th and 17^th-18^th May 2014

For Open Studios this year I will be showing a series of vintage photographs accompanied by gloomy poems (as above).

This show will take place in the Weaving Shed, 29 High Street, Stroud, and is generously being hosted by weaver, artist, traveller, raconteuse and mistress of the spoons, Sally Hampson.

I will also be doing ten-minute performances as my gloomy poetic alter-ego, reading poems with titles such as Things Will Be Better in the Grave and Things Will Be Quieter in the Tomb.  These performances will take place at 12.10, 2.10 and 4.10pm on each day.

In addition the Hawker’s Pot suitcase will be in attendance, stuffed to the brim with puns. 

Overall, I hope your visit  will leave you with the following sentiment entrenched in your mind:

Full Open Studios catalogue here
More information about the Site Festival here

C G Jung

 

 Carl Gustav Jung,

Your praises are rarely sung

In the circles of Freudians.

(But they're not really your audience.)

  

Valentine's

Valentine’s Day is one of my favourite days of the year: all that scurrying, secrecy and a year’s worth of repressed desire being expressed through stationery!  How can one fail to love it?

However, as with all festivities, I feel it is best appreciated without the distraction of other people.  But, before I go, here is a poem for the occasion:

DO NOT FORGET TO LOVE THE LOVERS TOO

Sometimes when I feel melancholy and low

I go out and feed the lovers in the park

And, reclining by the avenue,

I watch the ducks go strolling two by two

And then come home when it gets dark.

They have been in the park now many a day,

Those longing lovers who mutter “Welladay!”

So they are grateful for my snacks.

For it turns out a bitter thing, this sex,

And far more complicated than anyone ever expects.

“One cannot live long on love alone,”

I tell the lovers, “nor can one sup on sighs,

Nor feed too deep on your beloved’s peerless eyes.

If it’s food you want, you should go on home.”

But the pallid, lingering lovers make no reply.  “Alack!”

They sigh, “Alack!  Ah, woe betide!  Alas!  Alack!”

Apart from toast, they need no solace;

To my good advice, they are oblivious.

It is like water off a lover’s back.

Some Decisive Moments and other Nonsense

In Pisgah, where I planted my foot:

 (Luckily, I planted it next to a shoe-tree.)


In Shiloh, where I took my stand:

(Then took it away again, having found nothing to put on it.)



I have of late also been looking into the expressive possibilities of Cubist portraiture.

Here is Picasso's picture of Ambroise Vollard feeling a bit edgy.

 
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/cubism/

Wishing all Hawkers and Potters a merry 2014!

The Christmas Cheer

On Christmas Eve’s eleventh hour

All is hushed in wood and tower.

Birds shiver in the evergreen

But ye, who by the window lean,

Yes, ye who sit upon the sill,

Oh bend your ears until, until

You hear it fleeting through the air:

Hurrah!  Hurrah!

The Christmas Cheer!

On Christmas Eve’s eleventh hour

The snow lies on the ground like flour:

The Pastry Cook who lives Above

Shook it down through his great sieve.

And ye, who sit upon the sill

Shall hear a roaring from the hill,

Shall hear a rumbling from afar,

Shall hear it softly drawing near:

Hurrah!  Hurrah!

The Christmas Cheer!

Midnight is close and in their beds

Children lift their sleeping heads

And whisper soft:  Hurrah!  Hurrah!

As through the myriad of snows

Lilting, lifting as it goes,

It comes, that song from olden times,

Mingling with the midnight chimes

Hurrah!  Hurrah!

That now ring out for all to hear

Both near and far, and far and near,

Hurrah!  Hurrah!

The Christmas Cheer!

__________________

And may I wish a Merry Christmas to all you good Hawkers and Potters out there!