Round the Herne

 At a memorial service to a long time friend, Adam, I was asked to read a poem by Eugene Field in honour of Pan which my friend had liked. With this in my thoughts I decided to record it here, as I do not think it is that widely known, and to add in a couple of extra poems on the same topic, one by Elizabeth Barratt Browning and the other by Robert Frost in which the Greek deity appears in America.

  A recording of several poems ("Invention of the Otter" by Miriam Darlington, one by Sable, "Looking Glass River" by Robert Louis Stevenson, "Heaven" by Rupert Brooke, and one by myself) read out previously at a ritual to honour the River Gipping. It would be interesting to hear from others if they conduct ceremonies to honour their local rivers, lakes, or other water ways.

 Wanted to do this for St George's Day but work got in the way (and I must admit to feeling  reservations - not being a Christian, it seems rude to presume to chip in). However, as the national day for all things English, I thought it would be nice to share some poetry from a man who, though Indian-born, was once thought of as the poetic soul of the nation - Rudyard Kipling (I could do with a Rudyard Kipling right now).  Whilst he has other poems that are more explicitly based around patriotism, I like these ones because they centre on history and folklore. The three poems are - Puck's Song, The Land, and The English Way.  Make sure to drink tea whilst nibbling a scone as you listen.

  Six poems by different poets (Henry Newbolt, Richard Murphy, Sir John Betjeman, Hilary Llewellyn-Williams, Aonghus MacNeacail, and myself) just for the love of sharing poetry. Please let me know about poets/poems which you really like. I think it would be good to share the works we like to introduce them to a wider audience. The poems (in order) are: Henry Newbolt - "The Final Mystery" Richard Murphy - "Casement's Funeral" Sir John Betjeman - "Diary of a Church Mouse" Hilary Llewellyn-Williams - "The Bee-flight" Aonghus MacNeacail - "You Gave Me Summer" Robin Herne - "The Threefold Father"

 I've written a couple of previous poems (one published by Moon Books the other two as yet unpublished) about the peculiar Uncle Carbuncle and his various unfortunate relatives. This third addition centres on a Yuletide gift to his (as yet unnamed) nephew and niece. The written version of the poem follows the recording, in a randomly made up metre. UNCLE CARBUNCLE'S GIFT Laden with presents, home we return, Ice on our boots, frost riming our hair. For tea and crumpets does mother year, But something makes our dear father swear. There on the table squatted the box, Wrapped in paper the texture of moss. Father's home security it mocks, To grasp its presence, we are at a loss. How it came here sans stamp, none can say. Was it, by Santa, down the chimney flung? Yet there it sits by light of day, Bound with a ribbon, red as toad's tongue. "It's for you two!" Mother declares, The tag deciphered, we gather around - Knots undone, the box reveals two bears, Stuffed...

 The festival of Wolfenoot (November 23rd) was inspired by a child as a way of celebrating wolves and dogs and seems to have caught on in the way that things which touch a psychic pulse do. It had been my intention to get all techie, set up a live podcast and tell wolf stories as a fundraiser for The Dogs Trust. Sadly the combination of my own paucity of technical skills (the donations platform, which seemed mainly geared to businesses running taxable services rather than charity events, confused me no end) along with awkward life events at home and work made the live cast fall apart. Instead, now my throat is feeling a bit less raspy, here is recording to mark the day - with the request that, if you like it, you donate to The Dogs Trust directly (maybe add a message saying you have done so, to encourage others). The first story is of Ivan of Shiganska, allegedly a Russian village, who encounters a mysterious woman in the woods. This is followed by a spell-poem collected by Elliot ...

 This poem was written yesterday, to occupy my mind whilst at a very boring event, for an Interfaith gathering that now appears to have been postponed. Normally these events have some centralised theme, but this one does not appear to have any such focus to it so I decided to write a poem instead of the usual somewhat dry historical/theological overviews that I normally given when invited to Interfaith functions. Hoping this will give an emotional flavour of paganism (as I experience it) instead of an academic grasp. I'm not sure if the poem will ever get read at the event (given some ongoing issues), so thought I'd record it here just to get my mind away from work and various domestic burdens. 

 Not what the title may lead you to expect, but some poems - some of which I shared at the Wolfshead Pagan camp this weekend past and others which I would have shared had we not all nearly died of heatstroke from the excessive weather! The two of my mine are 'Song of the Wolf Clan' and 'Sigyn's Burden' from the Moon Poets anthology (edited by Trevor Greenfield) whilst the two by Hilary Llewellyn-Williams are 'The Song of Blodeuwedd on May Morning' and 'Muin' from her collection Hummadruz. Finally, the poem by Cathal O' Searcaigh is 'Hound of Ulster' from his collection Homecoming.

 This is my reading of the fifth part of Longfellow's (1863) collection "Tales from a Wayside Inn". This part concludes the first section of the collection. I am not sure if there is enough interest from the audience to record the next two sections, so will wait and see what the response is. In this installment the Poet tells of the Killingworth Birds and the cretinous inhabitants of the said town. Sadly, this seems a metaphor for much of humanity's engagement with the rest of the planet. There is also a Finale for the first evening of stories round the log fire (what a beautiful image that is).

  My reading of the fourth part of Longfellow's (1863) poem "Tales from a Wayside Inn". In this section we get the Musician's Tale (which is about King Olaf, who later became St Olaf, and is guaranteed to offend all Heathens), an Interlude, and the Theologian's Tales (of a monstrous father and his meeting with the equally putrid Grand Inquisitor Torquemada - more than a whiff of Antisemitism in this one).

 Continuing with Longfellow's (1863) narrative poem, "Tales from a Wayside Inn". In this section we have the Spanish Jew's tale in which Rabbi ben Levi meets the Angel of Death, followed by an interlude and the Sicilian's Tale of King Robert, who also meets an angel.

 This is my reading of the next part of Longfellow's (1863) poem about travellers at a pub sharing stories. This recording cover's the Landlord's tale (about the ride of Paul Revere), the interlude, the Student's story (which is taken from the Decameron and will offend almost all animal lovers), and the interlude after that. If I look different from yesterday's recording, it's because I have been to the barber this morning.

 My reading of the prelude to Longfellow's narrative poem "Tales of a Wayside Inn" (1863). The format takes its inspiration from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, with a group of travellers sharing stories to pass the time. It's a model I have plans to use myself once I find the time to write it - though whether it will find a willing publisher is a whole other question! The tellers of tales in this poem are the inn landlord, a student, a Jewish merchant, a Sicilian, the Norwegian musician, a theologian (who is a student at Harvard, referred to as Cambridge on the Charles in the poem), and a poet. The town of Sudbury referred to is in Massachusetts and not the one a few miles up the road from me in Suffolk. Hopefully I will get the time to record the rest over the coming week. The copy of the book shown in the video is a 1921 reprint which once belonged to someone called R Fabian (from the handwritten inscription I would guess a teenager).

 I have been thinking a lot about a Taoist deity lately, Tu'er Shen. Yesterday I created an altar to him and painted a (not very good) backdrop to it. The painting needs working on, as I have never painted an East Asian portrait before and the skin tones do not look quite right. I also got the urge for poetry, after  along break from writing any. The metre is of a spontaneous design and the poem is told from the perspective of the unnamed Fujian Inspector who orders the execution of the mortal soldier Hu Tianbao, whose soul is lifted to the realm of the gods and become the rabbit god Tu'er Shen. It is, of course, the Year of the Rabbit on the Chinese calendar and this poem (and the myth it is based on) also contains decidedly Easter-like themes seasonal to this time of the year. Incidentally, should any readers know the shop which sells the wonderful statuette of Tu'er Shen featured in the photo - please let me know. I would love to add it to the altar.    RABBIT R...

 Back in November I gave a talk/poetry reading about the life of Oscar Wilde, using samples of his poetry and other works to illustrate the story, as a fundraiser for the Albert Kennedy Trust. This recording is the general gist of that talk (if you enjoy it, please donate some cash to the AKT or other charity of your choice). The spirit of Oscar has been hanging around these last few months! This is a rather long recording, but at least you can pause it and get a coffee when it all becomes a bit much! Loom version  link  

  My reading of several poems inspired by Paganism that were (mostly - some were kept as additional ones in case the turn out had been low and time needed to be filled) read out at an Interfaith event yesterday. Poems are by Hilary Llewellyn-Williams, Oscar Wilde, Percy Shelley, Tom Hirons, and myself. Not only was there sharing of poetry and song between the people present, but much discussion about ideas revealed in those poems - it was a nice afternoon and a good way to inspire some creative discussions and build bridges.

 Rathe a belated contribution to World Poetry Day 2022, the choice is partly inspired by a conversation with my adoptive nephew Tom who has acquired a copy of Sir John Betjeman's collected works. So here are four poems by Betjeman and a little waffle to accompany each: The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel Felixstowe, or the Last of Her Order Monody on the Death of a Platonist Bank Clerk Death in Leamington

 This is my reading of W B Yeats' epic poem "The Wanderings of Oisin". I uploaded a prose storytelling version of this myth a while back. Yeats' poem is a dialogue between Patrick (not yet a saint) and the ancient Irish hero Oisin who has returned from centuries spent in Tir na nOg, an Otherworldly realm, with his beloved fairy-wife Niamh. The myth ends with the old man dying, bewildered by the changes in life and religion that he has seen in Ireland. I would have posted this yesterday, but minutes after I finished recording it, I heard the news about the death of the Queen - and it seemed a little inappropriate to put up a poem about a dying man and a lost era on the same day as the second Elizabethan Age came to an end.

 Finding the time to record or write anything of late has proven a challenge. I cannot remember the last time I wrote a poem, so I thought it might help to get in the literary "zone" if I recorded a few poems by other people. The selection here is random with no particular link between the works beyond the fact that I like them. The first offering is "The Only Son" by Rudyard Kipling, a lupine tale (appropriate for my next book) which shows that we often do not know our own relatives very well and that parentage can come in varied forms. This is followed by Stevie Smith's "Mrs Simpkins" which is also about family and reminds us that one person's vision of heaven may be another's vision of hell. Then we have the inimitable Oscar Wilde with "Athanasia", with echoes of Egypt (putting me in mind of my last book) and demonstrating again his passion for the natural world. Finally there is Hilary Llewellyn-Williams' poem "Ursa"...

 A few years ago I recorded Christina Rossetti's 1862 "Goblin Market" poem from an anthology I have. Yesterday a graduate gave me a beautifully illustrated copy of the poem from a 1977 edition of the work, and so felt like recording another version of it. The illustrations, shown in the recording, are by the famed Arthur Rackham - to make it easier to see some of them in full technicolour, I have posted some images into this blog post.  My earlier recording of the poem is actually the most popular post (in terms of viewings) that has gone up on this blog - nobody ever leaves a comment, so I am not sure if there is a big Rossetti fan club out there or if it is people who just really like goblins (or maybe they are goblins who like hearing about themselves). Whatever the case, I hope you enjoy this hauntingly beautiful poem and learn from to be careful of what overly ripe temptations you succumb to in life!