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Latest Articles
- Encountering the Knife Angel December 10, 2019
- Cathedral Poet-in-Residence: A Sociable October October 31, 2019
- Cathedral Poet-in-Residence: Making Waves and a Monk Seal September 24, 2019
- Do you have to live in the Cathedral now? August 31, 2019
- Turning Points at Write for Growth July 29, 2019
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Encountering the Knife Angel
Throughout November, Chester Cathedral was host to the imposing Knife Angel sculpture. This extraordinary piece was created by artist Alfie Bradley from 100,000 knives handed in during police amnesties nationwide. The Angel brings its own message to the cities it visits about the horrors and sorrowful impact of knife crime.
The Knife Angel’s stay coincided with a Poetry Workshop I was running at Chester Cat
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Cathedral Poet-in-Residence: A Sociable October
Although writing is a solitary activity, it can also be very much a shared and social one. It’s an aspect of writing I’ve been very much aware of during October in my tenure as Chester Cathedral’s Poet-in-Residence.
‘A contained vastness,’ a sense of being in the present moment but standing under ‘the weight of time’ are two comments made by workshop participants in Write for Growth’s ‘From Stone
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Tagged Chester Cathedral, creative writing, Poet-in-Residence
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Cathedral Poet-in-Residence: Making Waves and a Monk Seal
‘Careful now!’ the Organist calls out as I gingerly tread the stone spiral staircase leading to the Cathedral’s organ loft. ‘I broke my leg coming down here a couple of years ago.’ It doesn’t bode well. We are on our way up.
At the top, we shuffle past the wooden seat to look at the hard tiled floor way down below, alongside a Verger who, somewhat inexplicably, we find already up here. ‘Whatever you
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Do you have to live in the Cathedral now?
This comment from a former student of mine popped up on LinkedIn as I updated my job profile to include ‘Poet-in-Residence at Chester Cathedral,’ the year’s Volunteer Role I’m privileged to have started on August 1st.
I’ve had excited smiles from my friends and a warm welcome from the Cathedral community as I’ve taken up the role, alongside two recurring questions: What does that mean? What are
Turning Points at Write for Growth
It so often happens: A Write for Growth topic I thought would be quite straightforward is more complicated than expected.
As we gathered at Gladstone’s Library earlier in July to explore our theme of Turning Points, we started by looking at Robert Frost’s deceptively simple poem, ‘The Road Not Taken.’
The reader can easily be soothed into a false sense of security by the regular rhythm and rhyme
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Tagged creative writing, Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken, writing for well-being
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Reading As Above So Below
‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’ So says Shakespeare’s Hamlet to his friend, shaken by the sight of Hamlet’s father’s ghost.
As Above So Below is a new online magazine dedicated to poetry in the territory of these ‘more things.’ It explores themes of spirituality and is initiated and edited by poet and creative writing practitioner Be
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Tagged As Above So Below, Bethany Rivers, Creative, poetry, Spiritual
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Journalling into 2019
Write for Growth’s New Year, New Journal Workshop at Gladstone’s Library on a January Saturday always draws a full house. We gathered to explore fresh angles on journalling our way through 2019. Making space to write is one thing, but once we’ve done that, we can find another gap – between our desire to write and actually putting words on a page. Closing that gap can be a challenge for every writer.
Coffee with a Poem
‘It’s all about how we have choices,’ said a Write for Growth participant, as we looked at this poem under our workshop theme Space and Light. See what you think over a cup of coffee as we sit down with Naomi Shihab Nye’s ‘The Art of Disappearing.’
The Art of Disappearing
When they say Don’t I know you?
say no.
When they invite you to the party
remember what parties are like
before an
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Tagged Naomi Shihab Nye, poetry, The Art of Disappearing, therapy, writing for wellbeing
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Poetic Spirit in the City
It was Race Day in Chester in Saturday as we came together at Retreat House Chester for the more gentle pursuit of the poetic spirit.
Poetry and spirituality inhabit a common landscape. Derek Walcott, whose poem Love after Love was amongst those we read, has said, ‘I never separated the writing of poetry from prayer.…it is a vocation.’
The writer Mark Oakley comments that God gives us our being; w
Posted in Poetry
Tagged Chester, creative writing, Hafiz, poetry, Retreat, Richardson, Spirituality, Walcott, Zagajewski
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Between Seasons
When August is drawing to a close – particularly after the Bank Holiday – I always have a sense of the season starting to shift. The light becomes more tawny and slant; there’s a new chill in the breeze and the clear, light evenings of June have given way to twilight’s earlier curtain. It may not be Autumn quite yet, but it is no longer quite Summer.
Change is in the air. September brings the n
Posted in Writing Prompts
Tagged John O'Donohue, liminal space, writing for wellbeing
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