Summer Medley

A SUMMER MEDLEY

It’s been a busy time and for obvious reasons – rather strange. I won’t go into politics here but I have felt that the world has tipped and nothing feels quite right. There has however been positive experiences arise from the chaos – a student who I hadn’t seen for a while, got in touch and asked me to help her write her blog post. We had met at the Creative Writes Blogs Etc Workshops about three years ago and with the Referendum/Brexit she she had found the inspiration she was waiting for. It was an honour to work with her on this and here is Meike’s published blog post. We will be continuing to work together: Could this be it, could summer finally have arrived? I thought I would celebrate the sunshine and share my Summer Medley with you…

https://medium.com/@meike.brunkhorst/london-love-letter-2c1305b348d#.vccujgmmn

The uncertainty and unsettled feelings around me are present every day at the moment but it has also encouraged me to appreciate those moments of calm and simple pleasures, such as a day trip to the beach with two of my closest friends; the way my nephew makes me laugh and when memories of something he has said pops into my head as I go about my day – a huge smile spreads across my face; Birthday lunches and dinners with family and friends – appreciating each other’s company; the Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition at the Tate Modern…Here is a quote from this inspiring and versatile artist. I loved the show:

“I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life – and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.” Georgia O’Keeffe

I found a collection of Christina Rossetti’s poetry at my dad’s house recently so took it home and shared some of the poems with a group I work with regularly in a Care Home , which they really enjoyed. I then returned to the wonderful trunk (below) which is full of more and more surprises each time and I discovered this illustrated Christina Rossetti poem, which I was able to show them today – they loved it. The trunk belonged to Mrs Cecil Chesterton – the founder of Central & Cecil (C&C) housing trust, who I freelance for on a regular basis (I am currently involved in a special Arts Council Funded Project, which will culminate with a site specific performance/installation to celebrate International Older People’s Day and C&C’s 90th Birthday in the Autumn).

Inspiration has also come my way from the poetry of Raymond Carver  and EE Cummings recently, which my groups have also taken great delight in. Here are some favourite lines/verse:
here is the deepest secret nobody knows

 here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

From EE Cummings – [i carry your heart with me (i carry it in]

This blog was originally posted here