Galloping in

 'To Be as Free as White Horses'  © Glyn Davies.com 2010

Very rarely do I get to witness a true visualisation of the commonly used term ‘white horses’ that refers to the very particular equine surf within waves on the ocean. This is not for lack of looking of course, I’ve seen the occasional ‘stray pony’ lamely cantering to shore, only to disappear as a gentle spray of mist but in 2010, Glyn and I were on holiday in Cornwall when an overnight storm broke and the seas went wild. As we rushed down to the beach that morning to watch the incredible white waves rolling in, we witnessed a procession of hundreds of galloping white stallions racing towards the cove. We watched spellbound as they tossed their manes, pounded their hooves and raised their exquisite white heads within the ferocious ocean spray.

I was virtually drawn to tears as it was one of the most spectacular sights I have ever witnessed and was something I will never forget. For once I was actually begging Glyn to capture as many photographs as he could, as I screamed above the noise, and pleaded with the ocean to send more of these magical beasts to me. Their nostrils flared and snorted, their hoofed legs kicked above the spray as they battled to be first to shore. I was awed by their weight and strength, and I swore I could hear them neighing as the wind howled around me, and the seabirds cried overhead. Very gradually as the tide advanced, the horses slowed down and instead of vaulting the reef they just lolloped over it! The race was over, the spray weakened and the magical vision was gone.

Months later I celebrated a very special birthday. I hadn’t even seen the photographs Glyn took of that amazing event, until he brought home a huge one-off limited edition print especially for me – my horses, the image, the magic, the ultimate gift!

I have written a simple rhyming poem, (apt!) to remind myself of the occasion, but I think the photo says it all really and nothing I write could ever express the true emotion I felt on that glorious morning!

GALLOPING IN

Gallop, horses, gallop

Catch the waves and grow

Crest to crest, all abreast

Let your white manes flow

Gallop, horses, gallop

Above the briny wall

Toss your heads and kick your legs

Allow your hooves to fall

Gallop, horses, gallop

Within an ocean spray

Increase your pace, stay in the race

And face the wind today

Gallop, horses, gallop

Towards the sandy shore

Set the beat of thrashing feet

Until you run no more

Although this image isn't for sale, Glyn has two other beautiful photographs taken at the same time which can be viewed and purchased here: 

http://glyndavies.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Cornwall/G00001ehwh7WfvvE/I0000cqx3QhzX4DQ 

and:

http://glyndavies.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Cornwall/G00001ehwh7WfvvE/I0000LjpGs0dQHoc

Flint ignited love

I’ve just had some sad news regarding our little Jack Russell, ‘Flint’. Ten years ago, due to problems with a new landlord, I found I had no choice but to re-home my little dog, it was impossible to get permission to keep him. Thankfully a my friend Anne offered to look after him on a sort of ‘permanent loan’ but she has just phoned to let me know that sadly, he passed away a few days ago.

Flint showing his endlessly raised hind leg :-)

Flint was a stray dog who came into our lives around 1994, no one knew his real age but a guestimate put him at about three or four years old. In 2001 we had to move from a wonderful rural location to rent a suburban house with a “no dogs” rule, here in Menai Bridge. When we last paid Flint a visit, something we rarely did as I found it too emotionally heart breaking, he looked very elderly and shaky, but was still happy to see us, giving us that enormous smile we knew so well. He was being really well cared for and was a very happy old doggie.

Me & Flint at our last meeting ever

Last year I was asked to enter some poems into a children's poetry anthology being edited by Gaby Morgan from Pan Macmillan entitled “Puppy Poems” and naturally I wrote one about Flint! It was a real delight to hear it had been accepted, and I was subsequently paid for it – my first, hopefully of many, commissioned poems.

The book, Puppy Poems, containing my poem "Flint"

Flint will always be in our hearts and we have fond memories of him from, at a time when my kids were just 'kids'. He was a typical Jack Russell, always had his head down some rabbit hole, or rolling in dirt, growling at nothing and smiling at everything.

A very old man, still happy to see us :-)

This will be the first year I will not be sending him a Christmas card and doggie present and it feels strange and sad to know he has gone, but I know he had a good life and was dearly loved by those who knew him!

Saying Goodbye, beautiful Flint

Whoever said “a dog is man’s best friend” was wrong! Flint was a friend to everyone - male and female!

Flint - gone but never forgotten

Flint

Flint is as meek as a mouse but as brave as a

lion

He is as small as the hole he likes to climb

in.

Flint is as white as the snow but spotted

with dirt

He is as round as a ball but as slim as a

spear.

Flint is as hungry as the wolf but as sleepy

as a sloth

He is happy to kiss and lovely to

hold.

Flint is as slow as a clock but as fast as the

time

He is a guard dog at night and a kitten by

day.

Flint is a bear growling dog and a fish with

a grin

He will bark very loud and snore

every sleep.

Flint is a dog called Jack, but we don’t call him

that

He is my friend all the time and the best in

the world.

And I love him

because he is mine.

© Carol Mead 2010

Amazon sells Sea Things !

To date I have sold all of my "Sea Things" poetry books through book shops, gift shops, galleries, workshops, talks, zoos and directly to the public, but today I was delighted to sell my first copy via Amazon superstore.  How exciting!

Don't forget you can still buy direct from me, just give me a call.  But if you'd like to give Amazon a whirl, here is the direct link to the book page : http://amzn.to/n0eZeE

This book might be two years old but still make great Christmas presents :-)

Talking of presents, you may not know that I also have a 64 piece jigsaw version of this book cover, which I sell direct to customers at £ 5.99 or the book and jigsaw combined for £ 15.00 ! Ring 07764 694297 to order your set :-)

Loving the Seaside

The sea holds such a fascination for me.  I love to watch as the waves roll over the sand, then sucking away patterns left just seconds earlier.

People walk and play on the beach, children dig sandcastles, whilst dogs dig deep holes and run around leaving paw prints in the sand.  But whatever we do, the sea still continues to pound and pull at the shoreline washing away any signs of our existence.

I recently sat and watched two young lovers on the beach and a small, simple rhyme started to scribble its way into my head, so I jotted it into my i-phone and saved it until I was home - and here it is!

I hope you like it?

Reassurance

We ran the across the shore
   Leaving footprints in our past
     You held my hand
    I held my breath
       I wanted promises

You pulled us both to sea
    As we danced in salty spray
       We kissed and laughed
    You splashed dreams at me
       I needed reassurance

We wrote letters in the sand
    I wrote
     “I Love You”
   You wrote
     “I Love You 2”
   But the waves washed our words away
   Then you wrote
     “FOREVER"

International Poetry - Wales to India - India to Wales

On the evening of Sunday 26th June I attended an evening of International poetry readings at the Blue Sky Café in Bangor celebrating connections between a range of Indian languages, (Bengali, Manipuri and Malayalam) and Welsh, French and English.  The poets Sampurna Chattarji, Robin Ngangom, K. Satchidanandan, Menna Elfyn, Eurig Salisbury, Hywel Griffiths, Karen Owen and Jean Portante presented translations of each others work as part of Writers Chain, a continuing project initiated by the British Council and Wales Arts International.  This is in partnership with Wales Literature Exchange that aims to develop cultural connections between Wales and India through literature.

Although there was much that I couldn’t understand, (though I could make out some of the Welsh words of course), it was the sounds, rhythms and patterns which intrigued and fascinated me, together with the way different languages changed the presentation of the poems so radically.  Each poet explained that the translation would not obviously be word for word, but that the rise and fall of the tone would make the difference.  Each poet chose to translate poems for different subject reasons, whether it was landscapes, culture, childhood memories or simply for the quality of the words, but when they recited it in their own language it took on a whole new spirit.

Whilst there I sat next to a very interesting man called Simon Ager who runs a website, Omniglot, which is a fascinating read.  Take a look if you can. I it was intriguing listening to him and discussing the variety of languages he speaks.

I felt privileged to be part of the whole experience, and would like to thank all those involved. I look forward to a repeat performance soon.

Here are a few lines from a poem, by Menna Elfyn and which she read, which happens to be one of my favourites:

Handkerchief Kiss  - A poem in translation is like kissing through a handkerchief. R.S. Thomas

A caress in the dark.
What a tame lot we were,

with our secretive yesterday's kisses.

Cusan Hances - Mae cerdd mewn cyfieithiad fel cusan drwy hances.  R.S. Thomas

Anwes yn y gwyll?
Rhyw bobl lywaeth oeddem

yn cwato'r gusan ddoe.


©  Menna Elfyn - Perfect Blemish/Perffaith Nam 1995-2007

Make no Boobs - this is about LIFE!

Windy waves!

We raced to raise money,
have fun,
get fit!
But what WAS
the purpose
of it?
Perhaps - to -
let the world know that
WE CARE
About the women who fought to
SURVIVE
Or - for those who
have lost the
BATTLE 
and sadly,
sadly
DIED
Yet again, many of us
were there
Wearing our numbers
PROUDLY
Across our chests
COVERING our
living
BREASTS
Because the aim of
SHOUTING
This is the
“RACE FOR LIFE
Give us your money"
Is to help
Cancer Research
CONTINUE
The search
To save lives.........    and
The race is STILL on.

Thank you to all the girls who raced with me in the Able Fitness Team AGAIN this year and to the new team members who joined me: 

Ceinwen, Clare, Donna, Ffion, Gill, Glenys,  Jane, Jeannie, Lowrie, Mari. Maria.

Well, we have raised over £2,000 between us

The Team! (Oh no, missing some, can never quite find everyone!)

I know technically Dad was a man - but I'll never forget he died of Cancer :-(

If you fancy joining us next year, please let me know.  You won’t regret it.    Carol xx

Wonderful Wenlock Weekend

True to my promise to myself, from last year’s blog post April 19th 2010 I have returned, inspired, motivated and enthralled from another trip to the beautiful Shropshire town of Much Wenlock.  Once again I have spent time “ooing” and “ahing” at the beautiful village buildings and streets around me, but unlike last year decided to spend not one day at the Wenlock Poetry Festival but two! Tickets were booked further in advance this time and although, unfortunately my last two companions could not attend, two other friends were delighted to join me.

Roz, Me, Maggie, Paul & Hazel

So early last Saturday we set off with high hopes for a wonderful day of poetry and prose.  We were not disappointed.  Our first workshop was booked for 10.30 a.m. with the welcoming and very approachable Roz Goddard, a poet and short story writer based in the Midlands.  We had a great two and a half hours of creative writing and produced some exciting work, we should all be very proud.

The Sunshine Table :-)

Then it was time for a quick one hour lunch break and a spot of Shropshire sunshine before starting our second workshop entitled “Putting the Performance into Poetry” with Mark Niel. Spelled Niel!  Basically he put us through our paces about how to prepare to read or perform in public.  What absolute fun, we had to learn to breathe, play games, jump up and down, wiggle around, pull faces, act  like crazy people and read enthusiastically - now if that wasn’t putting on a performance I don’t know what is! Mark was an absolute breath of fresh air.

The Performers - Me, Mark, Hazel and Maggie

We then had a couple of hours to settle into our quaint accommodation at The Gaskell Arms Hotel. As I was the driver, the girls kindly gave me the double bed in the huge family room which we had reserved (thanks Hazel and Maggie) and then we decided to have supper on the church green as it was a gorgeous sunny evening and we had been indoors for most of the day.  So provisioned with a takeaway we sat out under the shade of a beautiful wild cherry tree and soaked up some of evening sunshine whilst discussing the day’s workshops, and we read out our creative writing to each other.

Yum, yum Takeaway

Colourful summer buntings

We then headed towards The Edge Arts Centre to listen to the Poet Laureate and founding patron of the Wenlock Poetry Festival, Carol Ann Duffy who was also accompanied by poet Paul Henry and musician John Sampson. What a wonderful way to end the day.

Sunday morning saw us wandering around the village breathing in the warmth of the sunbeams, absorbing the magic of the village and feeling completely chilled and relaxed.  I had booked myself onto a Children’s poetry workshop with Angela Topping, who promised, according to the programme, to create ‘a classroom full of magic’.  Well it was absolutely true!  She held all of us, me, the children and a grandmother behind us completely spellbound.  We all had a thoroughly brilliant time and produced some fantastic poems including a group poem which I see she has dropped into her blog. Well worth a read.  I am very proud of my ‘Purple Vampire living in a Wardrobe’ and my Kenning poem about a TV.  Thank you Angela, I learned a lot.

Angela and Me, hiding in the book shop

I  then allowed myself a three hour gap to enjoy more of the sunlight and found Maggie and Hazel sitting on the green.  We shared a leisurely lunch break and tied parcel tags, on which we had written little individual poems, onto the branches of a towering evergreen, before Hazel raced off to a reading.

Hanging my poem

Ok so Maggie is a bit taller than me!

Obviously Hazel wrote something really funny!

I wandered around enjoying the serenity of Much Wenlock's Anglo Saxon Church and admired some striking painted sheds by Sheilagh Jevons  before going to have a chat with the lovely Wren Miller who was this year once again collecting books to send to Mali, which unfortunately I didn’t know about. I have promised to get some books to her at another festival. What an inspirational woman Wren is, (in fact I have just been distracted from writing my own blog whilst spending time reading hers!).

A beautiful painted shed - The Spirit of Kindness Shed

Woman on the Edge of Time

Inside the Spirit of Kindness Shed

Inside Much Wenlock Church

Then our last reading was with Pauline Prior Pitt at the Wenlock Pottery.  “Pauline writes about the relationships between men and women, family life, the domestic scene, gynaecology, political issues, dresses, the ageing process, and love and death.” So Me, Maggie and about forty others joined her for tea and cake while she made us laugh, cry and think!

Fancy a cuppa Pauline :-)

And then it was all over and time to drive home and we couldn’t believe the weekend was over – so soon!

"What a brilliant weekend girls" xxx

Once again I want to thank Wenlock Books for organising such a wonderful and successful event.  I want to thank Hazel and Maggie for such lovely company, we did have some fun didn’t we girls! ? So much so that we are now planning a trip to the Hay-on-Wey Festival aren’t we!  Who is planning that by the way?  Urm excuse me girls, hello, what’s happening ?  Are we going ……?    Oh and yes, I would like to thank all the poets for such inspirational and motivational workshops because without you, I wouldn’t be writing this, would I?