Dearest Friends

Welcome back to our Friday Note – our weekly collection of writerly thoughts. 

Observing

Yesterday was National Poetry Day. This annual event held on the first Thursday of October encourages the celebration, creation and sharing of poetry, and aims to bring people and communities together through a shared love of language.

The theme this year is Refuge. On the the campaign website, they share a selection of poems on the theme, and invite everyone to celebrate by reading, writing or sharing a poem #NationalPoetryDay 

Reading

To honour National Poetry Day we are sharing a few of our own favourites on the theme of refuge. 

The Table by Edip Cansever (chosen by John) 

The Distance Between Us (chosen by Gillian)

The distance between us

is holy ground

to be traversed

feet bare

hands raised

in joyous dance,

so that once it is crossed

the tracks of our pilgrimage

shine in the darkness

and light our coming together

in a bright and steady light.

Rafael Jesus Gonzalez 

This is the time to be slow (chosen by Jamie)

This is the time to be slow

Lie low to the wall

Until the bitter weather passes

Try, as best you can, not to let

The wire brush of doubt

Scrape from your heart

All sense of yourself

And your hesitant light.

If you remain generous,

Time will come good;

And you will find your feet

Again on fresh pastures of promise,

Where the air will be kind

And blushed with beginning.

John O’Donohue  

Malheur Before Dawn (chosen by Neil)

An owl sound wandered along the road with me.

I didn’t hear it – I breathed it into my ears.

Little ones at first, the stars retired, leaving

polished little circles on the sky for awhile.

Then the sun began to shout from below the horizon.

Throngs of birds campaigned, their music a tent of sound.

From across a pond, out of the mist,

one drake made a V and said its name.

Some vast animal of air began to rouse

from the reeds and lean outward.

Frogs discovered their national anthem again.I didn’t know a ditch could hold so much joy.

So magic a time it was that I was both brave and afraid.

Some day like this might save the world.

William Stafford  

Writing

Where is your refuge? Can you capture that in a haiku?We’d love to see what you come up with if you’d like to share.

Photo by Ankhesenamun on Unsplash