Sailing is an escape, where peace and a sort-of solitude, the rush of the waves and the swell of the sea can speak to the soul and unharness the heart. I feel cast from shorePulled away my currents I can’t identify Helming divergent courses on a single wheel Beneath the surface …
A wintery walk along the coast in Bangor, North Wales.
Space for the mind and fuel for the imagination!
For the week I was in Finland, I did not wear any make-up. I figured there was no point what with the constant snow to just wash it all off/over my face (though there were plenty of girls who tried to get around this – I have no idea how …
I’ve just returned from a week in Yllas, Finland. It’s been like a breath of fresh air to mind before the new term starts next week!
The snow, the quiet, the incredible scenery… I have honestly never felt such a close affinity with another country before, besides my own, found somewhere I could see myself living far beyond England and Wales. Of course the quiet and isolation that seems so appealing at first could drive me the other way, to want noise and crowds and the amenities of a city again. I feel that way in Wales sometimes, I find myself missing the hustle of London, feeling like I am missing out tucked away in the North West corner, but the space out there, in Finland! Space for the body creates space for the mind and that is a tantalising thought right now.
The final lines of Shelley’s ‘Mont Blanc’ reflect this desire perfectly:
“And what were thou, and earth, and stars, and sea,
If to the human mind’s imaginings
Silence and solitude were vacancy?"
Today I’ve been reading the New and Selected Poems (V1) of Mary Oliver. She is an astonishing discovery to me, every syllable of her poetry just rings true. It’s beautiful but yet brutal, free but yet perfectly controlled and beyond all else optimistic and empowering. It’s given me a real …
My tumblr is looking a bit bleak and ‘wordy’… It may be clichéd but beautiful scenery is where I go when I feel uninspired and north Wales is absolutely stunning! This photo is of Llanddwyn beach last February, although I was there again last weekend.
Stunning, simply stunning; wouldn’t you agree?
It’s funny, but today a quote I’ve had in my head since the tender age of seven or eight, from my headmaster repeating it again and gain for us to reflect on is assembly, has turned out to be “wrong” all along! Instead of me having forgotten it however I am choosing …
I’m finding my intensive poetry reading at the moment (a mix of Sylvia Plath, R.S. Thomas, Ted Hughes and my old favourite, Philip Larkin) is really helping me to write my own. It’s challenging me in the way I observe of my surroundings, changing me so my senses are constantly …
