Poetry, RattleBag and Rhubarb

On the Border: The Odd Uneven Time of August

“I love borders. August is the border between summer and autumn; it is the most beautiful month I know. Twilight is the border between day and night, and the shore is the border between sea and land. The border is longing: when both have fallen in love but still haven’t said anything. The border is to be on the way.…

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Poetry, RattleBag and Rhubarb

The Happiest Day

They say the day you get a boat is the happiest day of your life. That is, until the day you sell the boat. The friend who shared those words had just bought a small sailboat. I think she may have actually sailed it a handful of times, the rest of the time it sat in the driveway. The one…

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Food, Poetry, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Blackberrying

Here then, as promised is the indulgence of blackberry poems. (For any very young readers confused by Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackberry please know that the Blackberry was a communication device from the early C21st introduced sometime after the era of cocoa tins connected with string.) So many blackberry poems. It’s almost as if all the poets had…

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Poetry, RattleBag and Rhubarb

Wild Geese

Before reading the poem – take a look at this painting. Take a good look. What’s there? Be literal. What is in this picture? What do you see? So you climbed the staircase with the one-legged man with the help of a crutch while the world about you lay in ruins. In spite of all, you started the climb while…

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Art, Film, Photography, Poetry, RattleBag and Rhubarb

The Journey

The Journey  by Mary Oliver One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice– though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. ‘Mend my life!’ each voice cried. But you didn’t stop. You knew what you had to do,…

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