chain coral Chorus
It's been a while since I posted to this blog. I've been busy arranging and editing my collection of poems, ready to submit to publishers. It's taken a different turn than I'd originally imagined; now forming a sort of archipelago of poems, fieldnotes, mini-essays and thoughts. I've borrowed Kenneth White's vision here - much of his work could be described with this cluster metaphor. Poems, Travel Writing, Philosophy all connecting in his landscape/mindscape. I look forward to sharing my offering with the world soon.
There's plenty more cool stuff that's been happening over the last few months that I want to tell you about. I'm really happy to report that The Black Country Geological Society have extended my residency until Spring 2022 - so keep your eyes peeled for more talks, workshops, walks and readings. During this extension, I aim to push the work of the society further and to help with the goals of the Black Country Geopark: reaching out to the other Geoparks; encouraging more people into the sites; finding new ways to express our geological heritage. Some of my thoughts and poems found a home in Elsewhere Journal - an amazing literary journal focusing on place and place-writing, edited by the amazing Paul Scraton. Check it out: www.elsewhere-journal.com/blog/2021/10/12/fossil-chained-grounds Another recent development has been a collaboration with the Film Maker, Paul Stringer. Together, we're making a filmpoem based on my research and poetics during this residency. We've recorded poems and been out taking shots of Wren's Nest, Bumblehole and Rowley Hills. Paul's currently editing this with his own take on the geopoetic vision - offering a cinematic expression of how people shape the land and how the land shapes people. It's been a joy to work with Paul, who has an instinctual and grounded understanding of the natural world and of poetry: check out his other works here - www.paulstringer.co.uk/ I'll leave you now with a poem. This one came out from a workshop I ran for the Geologists Association, and was written by Sam Scriven, Head of Heritage and Conservation for the Jurassic Coast Trust. Graptolite black marks on a rock veins or a branching tree or a complex river delta braided channels seen from the air but this is the scrapings of life a smear of graphite a meagre offering It's how old you say? well I suppose you want me to think 'wow!' and fall about all amazed awestruck I'm afraid not It's pretty, I'll give you that If I tilt my head and picture its delicate structure drifting in some long lost current through some long lost ocean I almost begin to sympathise But it's dead, has been for millions of years what do you want me to do about it? A black mark on a rock the last testament of some ancient animal I think that it exists, in a way only in our imagination. Sam Scriven Comments are closed.
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January 2022
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