Blog posts - page 5
2022 in Review: Personal Reflections
03 Jan 2023 year in review
Following on from last week’s year in review post, which was more political in nature, I thought I would take some time to reflect on last year from a personal perspective. Each year I go through the Year Compass as a ritual to close down the last year and set goals for the next, so this post is informed by that.
2022 in Review: Weaponised Nostalgia
29 Dec 2022 year in review
Another year of political chaos, with three prime ministers, war in Ukraine and a cost of living crisis. It has been a lot. Instead of returning to relative stability, the ripple effects of lockdowns have continued to have a huge impact and will likely reverberate for years to come.
Suspended Animation
18 Dec 2022 poetry
During the second spring,
gorse opened exploratory
canary buds, lending
a perfume of coconut
to apathetic winds.
November 2022 Input
08 Dec 2022 input
November rattled by. I thought I was going to read more due to the dark days and frost but actually I went to a lot of gigs and generally enjoyed myself. And here in Bristol, the frost only started in December. Here’s what I did read and consume.
Slowing Down
24 Nov 2022 creativity
After I got married at the end of September, I went on honeymoon to Croatia. It was bliss- two weeks of lying on the beach, reading books and occasionally swimming. Now of course I’m back to real life with all the admin and bills to pay.
October 2022 Input
04 Nov 2022 input
I was on honeymoon in Croatia for the start of October, so I relaxed on a beach and read loads of books. It was great. It got me back into reading a lot more. Now as it gets colder all I want to do is to hunker down with good books.
October's Oxidation
27 Oct 2022 poetry
Drains are clogged with circuit boards again.
Flurries of rust flakes carpet the streets.
All the air tastes of wet pennies. Every
polished gear and lever is corroding fast
under the pressures of time. Gutters, pipes
peel off houses and droop. Children swing
rivets on strings, laugh in modem screeches.
Pull on your coat. Leave the Geiger counter
on the kitchen side. Let’s walk together,
despite this antifreeze rain, feel the crunch
and pop of ball bearings beneath our feet.
Down in the landfill, bottles of bleach
are...
Resignation- A Coupling
21 Oct 2022 poetry
I came into office
because in my possession was an ancient grimoire,
at a time of great economic and international instability
from which a few will profit, the system working as it should.
Families and businesses were worried about
being suspended over a bottomless chasm with sharp teeth;
about how to pay their bills;
about flesh chewed down by ice, no help forthcoming.