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 North Kent marshes: a dragonfly paradise. I came across this pair of Migrant Hawkers on a warm September day, on a stretch of marshland called Dagnam Saltings. This coupling of male (the blue one) and female (the green one) is known as a mating wheel.