Sacred Texts from The Weston Library
13 Wednesday Nov 2019
13 Wednesday Nov 2019
01 Friday Feb 2019
Candlemas Bells White Purification Snow Piercers
Milk Flowers
Naked Maidens Good Christians Ice Lilies
Mary’s Tapers
February Fairmaids White tears Death Flowers
Eve’s Comforters
Morning Stars
Pentecost Flowers
Mary’s Teeth
Dewdrops
Shrove Tuesday Fools
Flowers of Hope
Dingle-Dangles
Snow Bells Eve’s Tears Mary’s Tears
Candlemas Lilies
c Photo and poem by Candia Dixon-Stuart
25 Friday Jan 2019
Posted Animals, art, Language, Photography
in30 Tuesday Oct 2018
Posted Arts, History, Home, Language, Literature, Nature, Nostalgia, Personal, Photography
inPhoto- and preserve!- by Candia Dixon-Stuart
So excited to find these at Kelmscott and then to allow them to blett, before making
jelly. Supposed to be good with game, or cheese.
These are culs-de-chien, ‘open-arses’ and other scatologically named fruits from the rose
family. Shakespeare and contemporaries loved exploiting double-entendre possibilities
in their lexical field- see ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and references to poppering pears etc
I added a lemon and an apple to the simmering mixture and then raised some sugar to
a rolling boil- and voila!
02 Wednesday May 2018
Posted Environment, Horticulture, Humour, Language, mythology, Nature, Nostalgia, Personal
in
My grandmother used to say, Never cast a cloot till May is oot.
This, being translated, is tantamount to advising that one should
not strip off, or put one’s winter wardrobe away until… until
OR
2) the month of May is past
Which is it? In Scotland it is probably never a good idea to dispense with a
layer, whatever the time of year, or whatever plant is making its presence
felt.
Above is a photo of the May blossom in my garden yesterday. I compromised by
wearing a coat dress – ha! Today I would have needed a Drize-a Bone Aussie
head-to-toe proofed swagman garment.
It’s a wonder there’s any blossom left on the trees after this morning’s deluge!
11 Wednesday Apr 2018
Posted Crime, Language, Poetry, Psychology, Social Comment, Writing
inFemales also guilty – should be ‘Mankindsplaining!’ (New generic?)
Hot air forked tongues terminal inexactitudes
filthy whitewash
tranparent smokescreens inexcusable excuses unmitigated untruths
hollow rants
iniquitous insinuations criminal understatements overblown rhetoric
smooth sham
Father of Lies
sweeping evasions
Master of Deceit
euphemistic gloss
hyperbolic tirades
Hath God said?
rash incitements
hollow rhetoric smooth tongues transparent excuses
iniquitous inexactitudes
28 Wednesday Mar 2018
Posted art, Language, Literature, mythology, Philosophy, Poetry, Politics, Social Comment, Writing
inTags
anarchy, Andromeda, Animal Farm, Burne-Jones, Cassiopeia, casuistry, censorship, Diaz, Dr Atl, etymology, free expression, guerilla warfare, hacendados, Heaven, Hell, Liberty, liberty/licence, Pre-Raphaelites, Prometheus, revolution, volcanoes
Another poem inspired by Prometheus Unbound
by P B Shelley:
Andromeda by Burne-Jones: Wikipedia
A wheel will come full circle, you will find.
The outcome’s in the etymology
of ‘revolution.’ Think ‘Animal Farm.’
‘You seize the flower; the bloom is shed,’ Rab said.
Heaven and Hell are one’s inner landscapes.
Give a man an inch; he’ll take a mile.
Liberty/ licence – where to draw the line?
Free expression/ censorship : who can judge?
Anarchy is based on casuistry.
Prometheus played with fire and was burnt.
Imagination versus tyranny.
He who is king over himself is free.
Cassiopeia took the liberty
of a frank assessment of others’ looks.
Say nowt if you can’t say anything nice.
Why did the Pre-Raphaelites feel free
to create soft porn from mythology?
Liberty bodices off; shackles on.
‘When tigers are unleashed, who controls them?’
said Diaz, while Dr Atl opposed
slaves’ exploitation by hacendados,
exploding guerilla warfare into print,
like lava from his beloved volcanoes –
but he still became a neo-Nazi.
So, I’m suspicious of all these Titans,
larger than life, whose words stream in the wind.
They’re the self-acknowledged legislators,
crying, ‘Liberty, equality… (Blah!)
prior to being overthrown – not by a coup –
yet everywhere men are free, but in chains.
04 Thursday Jan 2018
Posted Language, Personal, Poetry, Psychology, Relationships, Social Comment, Writing
inExaggeration
spices up the varnished truth.
Once Chinese Whispers
are conveyed to print, they last.
Never trust accounts
from impressionable folk.
Concocted gossip
is an insult to the truth,
but scepticism can be
mis-placed, if expressed,
especially if someone is
talking about faith.
Though doubt can be cast on much,
facetiousness is unkind.
03 Wednesday Jan 2018
Posted Language, Personal, Poetry, Psychology, Relationships, Social Comment, Writing
inA frank discussion
would be so enjoyable,
but, let us face it,
there are few hearts in accord.
Strong disagreement
can’t be brooked by many folk.
You end up alone,
or as good as such. You’ll see.
If one could just trust
interlocutors
not to take offence, umbrage,
at a slight demur,
it would be stimulating
and both parties might profit.
14 Tuesday Nov 2017
Posted Arts, Community, Education, History, Language, Literature, Nostalgia, Poetry, Relationships, Social Comment, Writing
inLong ago, people
showed great appreciation
for all poetry.
If an Emperor was to
hand you an inkstone and say:
Write down a poem!
you’d be obliged to comply.
The Naniwazu would do,
as would Kokin Shu.
You couldn’t excuse yourself,
or your memory.
Calligraphy could be poor,
but you had to show your taste.