Wave Silo

Chi Chi or qi is a concept derived from Classical Chinese Philosophy. It can be expressed in English as ‘life force’, but also as ‘air’, ‘breath’ and ‘energy flow’. We might compare or contrast chi with Awen , a Celtic word which Bards use to mean inspiration - and which also relates to ‘breath’ and ‘flow’. Sometimes the Hindu notion of kundalini is referred to in relation to Chi. But kundalini does not translate to ‘air’ or ‘breath’ or ‘flow’. Kundalini is a coiled snake . Me Me, I have some ideas. Me, I hope you understand. Me, I look forward to hearing from you. Me, I trust you are well. Me, I want to select carefully. Me, I have now settled on the theme. Me, I am attaching a painting. Me, I work in Property. Me, I am a very proud and happy Mummy. Me, I am active and rooted in Community. Me, I managed to replace my day job of more than 33 years as a legal PA. Me, I have been running my own business. Me, I fully sacked my boss. Me, I came t...

In July last year I offered an original poem as a raffle prize at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants ' Summer Party. I promised that the raffle winner would be able to name a subject of their choosing, and that I'd write a poem on the subject that they could do with as they wished. At the end of a truly lovely afternoon spent with supporters of JCWI, the artist and law-worker Jagrati Bhatia won my poem-prize in the raffle. In the weeks and months between then and now, Jag and I have been exchanging thoughts over email and webcam about the possibilities of the poem, the theme for which she decided would be 'Identity'. To my great pleasure, Jagrati also told me of her intention to arrange for the finished piece to be displayed alongside her artwork at the Law Society's Art Group exhibition this month. The exhibition starts tomorrow, Tuesday 14th January, at the Law Society's Reading Room - 113 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1PL - and my poem 'Chim...

Klaus opened up the big red book for the last time that night. He turned it to the last page, and ticked the last three stops: Zurich, Zwickau, Zwolle. Done, done, done. It was always the same three to finish with, heading back North towards the Arctic. So many years, so many rituals. The reindeer harnessed... the chimneys caved... the brandies downed, at so many firesides. But tonight there was a new ritual. One he would perform only once. The Arctic Elves had been instructed, and the deer provided for - everything would go on. The world would not even miss him. His image was everywhere, and anyway, they thought he was a myth. Nicholas the Wonderworker took his sack down off the sleigh. He set it down flat on the snow, and opened it out in a wide circle. The open bag was a portal to a seemingly bottomless pit, walled with 1700 years’ worth of toys. He took a few steps back, adjusted his belt, ran forwards - and leaped in . Now he fell down the tunnel of toys. At the very t...

I am again taking part in Dalston Writers' 'Take-Away Tales', which means copies of my festive flashfic 'The Last Christmas' are available from CLR James Library . I'm number 8 on the menu - pick one up if you're in the area and I'll post the full text here on Christmas Eve.

"Once upon a time in a place called Wheatley (which means wheat field, and is well named) there was a field of wheat - I tell a lie, there were many..." 'The Naughtiest Thing' , a tale of lies and curses and forbidden forays into wheat-fields, is set to be published as a Glastonbury Broadside Ballad in the first week of March 2020. Image by Pezibear from Pixabay

In 2018 I undertook a fool's journey through the letters of the alphabet, writing a poem a day (more or less) for each of the 26 letters known to English speakers today. The poems were influenced by the shapes and sounds of the letters, and by the ancient symbols - the hieroglyphs and pictograms - which were their ancestors. The sequence of poems quickly began to take on the form of a surreal quest narrative, with the mysterious letter zed at its end. After some crossing some hurdles I finally made it to the izzard on the July 1st 2018. I am now (as of February 2019) working on a Tarot deck inspired by the poems with the artist Abigail Jones . The rest of the sequence is now taken down for editing (and publisher-seeking), but the current (February 2019) drafts of 'A' 'B' and 'C' appear below. The ancestral symbols which are relevant here include: for A , a bull's head  (I would also refer readers to Malcolm McNeill's article ' A is for Girl...

Highly commended in the Shepton Mallet Snowdrop Festival Poetry Prize , 2018 - click the link to read the other winning entries. Thanks to David Reakesmith for alerting me to the contest, and Billy the Bard (Chaired Bard of Glastonbury) for representing me at the prizegiving.