Flint cairn
Kentish field flecked with flint.
Farmer picked the flint from field,
Planting piles along the fringe.
All posts filed under: Kent
Dangerous visions
When she was brought thither and laid before the image of our Lady, her face was wonderfully disfigured, her tongue hanging out and her eyes being in a manner plucked out and laid upon her cheeks: and so, greatly disordered. Then there was a voice heard speaking within her belly, as it had been in a tun, her lips not greatly moving; she all that while continuing by the space of three hours in a trance. The which voice, when it told anything of the joys of heaven, it spake so sweetly and heavenly that every man was ravished with the hearing thereof. And contrary, when it told anything of hell, it spake so horribly and terribly that it put the hearers in a great fear. (From a letter written by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer to Archdeacon Nicholas Hawkins, 1533)
Twitchers
You cannot call such fliers strange Nor imitate surprise Although their subtle pinions range Beyond your soldered eyes. (‘The Birds’ – Edward A Richards)
Gethsemane and Eden
Derek said: ‘There’s a beautiful fisherman’s cottage here, and if it was ever for sale, I think I’d buy it.’ As we neared the cottage, black varnished with bright yellow window frames , we saw the green-and-white ‘For Sale’ sign – the improbability of it made the purchase of it inescapable. (Derek Jarman’s Garden – Derek Jarman & Howard Sooley, from the foreword by Keith Collins)
Roman stick of rock
Seas pleat winds keen fogs deepen ships lean no doubt, and the lighthouse keeper keeps a light for those left out. (‘Lighthouse Keeping’ – Kay Ryan)
The mating wheel
The insect lovers seem to be transferring the cosmos into each other by attaching at the tail, holding utterly still, and quivering intently. I think (on what evidence?) that they are different from us. That they mate and are done with mating. (‘Dragonflies Mating’ – Robert Hass)
Fortuna smiles
Sloppy workmanship, you could call it. Or maybe half-hearted iconoclasm. The alteration men of the Reformation or Puritanism, whichever it was, only removed half the image. The other half of this depiction of the Wheel of Fortune was hidden behind a pulpit.
Bowie’s first stand
You’re a skinny kid from Brixton but Bromley is your home now. Life in Bromley might as well be life on Mars, so far does it seem from the charms and thrills of London. But you’re going to get out, sooner than they think.