One must have a mind of winter To regard the frost and the boughs Of the pine-trees crusted with snow; And have been cold a long time To behold the junipers shagged with ice, The spruces rough in the distant glitter Of the January sun; and not to think Of any misery in the soundContinue reading “#adventapertures2025: Blue Christmas”
Tag Archives: fear
#adventapertures2025: day 19
I praise you because you are artist and scientist in one. When I am somewhat fearful of your power, your ability to work miracles with a set-square, I hear you murmuring to yourself in a notation Beethoven dreamed of but never achieved. You run off your scales of rain water and sea water, play theContinue reading “#adventapertures2025: day 19”
#adventapertures2025: day 7
“Advent is a story of Old Testament prophecies. It is a story of cosmic fulfillment. The dream of a world repaired in the holy darkness of Advent. A whisper is heard, words are formed.” Rev Lisha Epperson Packing to go on holiday always induces fear in me as well as excitement. It is the fearContinue reading “#adventapertures2025: day 7”
day 7: for discomfort
She loves the wind. There on the edge of the known world, at ninety, In her tall house, any wildness in the elements Is as welcome as an old friend. When the surgically patched elms and sycamores Crack off their heavy limbs in the freak snow storm Of October, she rejoices; the massy hail ThatContinue reading “day 7: for discomfort”
day 6: for fear
I wonder why you brought me to these splintering days, this age of dearth-death and default extinction and the smothering of constellations nostalgia claws at me screaming send me back then I sense a fire that doesn’t consume, a cloud of breath-taking holiness passing across the face of a mountain and it says I putContinue reading “day 6: for fear”
playtime is here
Regular readers of this blog will know that I was fortunate enough to have my first solo exhibition, ‘episodes’, at Farnham Pottery last summer. A surprisingly busy Autumn followed, with between 1 and 6 ‘episodes’ paintings appearing in the following exhibitions: ‘and we meet again’ at the Lightbox, Woking; in the Second Saturday group exhibitionContinue reading “playtime is here”
Blue Christmas 2: light is in the horizon yet
This piece was originally written for the Godspace blog to be a part of their Advent theme Proclaiming Justice, Seeking Peace Through Advent. It was published on 21 December 2022 here. All images by Kate Kennington Steer. … And if, as autumn deepens and darkens I feel the pain of falling leaves, and stems thatContinue reading “Blue Christmas 2: light is in the horizon yet”
whole: day 7
There is a crack in everything God has made. Ralph Waldo Emerson I am moved by the Japanese art of Kintsugi, both for its own sake, and as a profound spiritual metaphor. Kintsugi is the art of repairing broken teaware, by reassembling the ceramic pieces in such a way that the broken/repaired/remade piece is perceivedContinue reading “whole: day 7”
gospel 3: Peace. Be Still.
Do you really not know that I AM With You – always – even to the end of time? I AM with you when you feel you are drowning, sinking, perishing. I AM seeing your fears, and your fear of fear itself. I AM hearing your shouts, your screams, your silent, desperate cries which allContinue reading “gospel 3: Peace. Be Still.”
day 25
I was afraid that with their blocks of concrete the skyscrapers might wound the dawn. But you ought to see how sensitive they are to the morning light, how they disarm and lose their cutting edge and steely soul! They too are caught in the irresistible spell of the holy hour when the whole naturalContinue reading “day 25”