Sunday, December 23, 2018

Shadow and crow


I recently returned from a trip to Ireland. Ending with a stop-off in Yorkshire, my trip began with five days participation in the University of Limerick Winter Writing School. In between, I worked on my novel Some Things the English, and photographed a some of the winter light and its illuminations.


 Shadow and crow, Doolin, November 2018.

The Pier, Doolin.

  
Crow and Cliffs of Moher.

Cliffs of Moher.

Brú na Bóinne, Newgrange. 

Yeats' Tower.

Coole Park.

Coole Park.

Oscar Wilde woz ere, Dublin.

  
Famine Memorial, Dublin.

 Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton.  

Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton. 



The trip had many highlights, but I'll leave you with the last one. I finally got to see Norman Ackroyd's "Muckle Flugga", the inspiration behind my poem "Outliers":



Outliers



Bathed in Burra Firth’s foamy mouth,
Flugga’s mermaid coifs
her hair aloft ophiolite rock, diabase and dark
mafic glass crackles like static in magic
light at her feet. Two giants
crashed here like her kids,

obtuse, competitive
Saxa full of confidence,
Herma, better-lived. The only ones who told her they loved
her. Long gone,
they’re sleeping now on lava
pillows. Silly buggers,

they couldn’t see
she was dragging them down with her. *Blows*:

Out Stack and Muckle Flugga; the emoticon
for kiss is the same as it is for bitter. So south
of the far north, the sea, too, cries with laughter. 

First published in JAAM, Issue 32

Friday, December 14, 2018

Geometry

I'm very grateful to editor Di Starrenburg for including my graphic memoir "The High-heeled Boots" - part of my New Shoes series - in the latest issue of Geometry.

The magazine is available to buy in New Zealand bookstores and free online.