It is ten years already since the passing of Seamus Heaney. His final message – noli timere, be not afraid – is with me always, in a little heart shaped amulet that I carry everywhere. It is tempting to surround our heroes in fluffy pink clouds of admiration, as if they represent nothing but […]
Getting started, keeping going, getting started again – in art and in life, it seems to me this is the essential rhythm not only of achievement but of survival, the ground of convinced action, the basis of self-esteem and the guarantee of credibility in your lives, credibility to yourselves as well as to others. […]
It is six years this week since the great Seamus Heaney passed, and it is blackberry season and a holiday weekend in the US. Let’s celebrate with him: Blackberry-picking Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, […]
Unintentionally, our last two posts were “faith” and “hope”. This seems to leave no choice but for today to be “love”. Yes, I have rolled my eyes at cheesy valentines, cringed at the still-standard question, “and what does your husband do?”, and too often confused warm-heartedness with soft-headedness. But as the world has gotten louder, and […]
This week I have read several thoughtful articles with advice for bloggers, all urging focus and thematic clarity (rightly so). But today I am writing not about investing, but about poetry, experts and editors be darned. Because Seamus Heaney’s work has helped me more than all of those blogger-advisers put together. Because poetry is one […]