That was the year that was. SOUJF soo-jiff-er, to rhyme with Calcifer, for those of us who are too tired to say five words when one will do will be 6 months old on January 6th, and I hope will keep gaining readers as they trundle along. You make it all worthwhile. Thanks to every bookshop and library who has had SOUJF on their shelves, everyone who has made events and talks possible, and again, all my readers. We bought a bookshop! There have been a lot of work-related frustrations in all areas but as the year closes I want to focus on the good things.
Three poems included in the National Trust book of Nature Poems edited by Deborah Alma , with beautiful illustrations. A new essay about rain and chronic illness in the brilliant Moving Mountains anthology, edited by Louise Kenward. I also have most of a third poetry collection together, although the schedule suggests it might not see paper for another couple of years.
Wishing you all all the best for To turn my face to the sun at every opportunity. To wash in its gold like the cat does. To choose light over productivity. Comfort over productivity.
To be kindly with myself. To break into simpler parts. To loosen. The moth-holed clouds of the old year blown open to let the moon shine through. To vanquish abstemiousness. Against deprivation. I will weather these months as the deer do, eating and resting when I will. Putting all of my store into personal growth, turning the winter into velvet and bone, and my own survival. I will practice my big antler energy. Towards resting red deer face, the furrow in my brow less of a comment than a natural phenomenon and when I am threatened I will leap free and vanish and when I am threatened I will leap free and vanish and the space I abandon will be less-than without me.
I am filling my pockets with all the sun I can carry and turning them out in the burrow of the house at twilight. I am taking it one fire at a time against the daily emergency of this endless heedless season of gloom. I am cleaning my bones. I am lighting all my candles. I have given up giving up. Last Friday afternoon, November 10 th , Kendal Mountain Festival sent round an email newsletter that included the following announcement:.
