10 Friday Aug 2018
Tags
Alexander the Great, Charlemagne, City Hall, Cologne, David, Godfrey of Bouillon, Hector, Joshua, Judas Maccabeus, Julius Caesar, King Arthur, Nine Worthies, nonet, Preux
Another nonet: 9 syllables, 8 syllables… and so on.
Nine Worthies- City Hall, Cologne (Wikipedia)
Alexander the Great and Hector;
Julius Caesar, Joshua,
Judas Maccabeus and
David, Charlemagne,
King Arthur, Godfrey
(de Bouillon) – all
Pagans, Jews,
Christians:
‘Preux’
19 Thursday Jul 2018
17 Tuesday Jul 2018
12 Thursday Jul 2018
Tags
10 Tuesday Jul 2018
…plus another Angel of Light and a Jeune Femme Nue
Paintings by Candia Dixon-Stuart
09 Monday Jul 2018
Tags
Acrylic and charcoal. On board.
05 Thursday Jul 2018
Tags
acylics, angel of light, charcoal, Cocteau, gold leaf, troubadour
Angel of Light; Troubadour; Lovers all after Cocteau
04 Wednesday Jul 2018
Tags
08 Tuesday May 2018
Posted in Environment, mythology, Nature, Poetry, Writing
Tags
Akitsushimai, demoiselle, dragonflies, emperor Jimmu, iridescence, Ix chel, Mayan, motion camouflage, ocelli, Parthenopes, samurai, Venetian glass
Photo by Daderot. Wikipedia
Chasers, Caerulae, Club-Tails, Elegans
and Parthenopes, Mercuriales, Skimmers,
Ear Cutters, Devil’s Needles, Adderbolts,
Horse-Stingers, Eye-Pokers – your varied names.
You’ve hung around three hundred million years;
you can move in six directions; hover;
fly backwards and you switch from side to side.
Motion camouflage paralyses prey.
Your ocelli are attracted to bling:
even to a shiny, granite graveslab,
Emperors, Blue-eyed Darners, Globe-Skimmers,
Freeline Emeralds, Dropwings, Brown Hawkers
and even Common Whitetails – your females
(dimorphic) are deceptively like males.
You live most of your brief life as a nymph,
mating in tandem, you create heart rings,
like suave, romantic nicotine addicts.
Your adolescents breathe through their recta,
propelling themselves by the expulsion
of water from the anus. Cannibals,
you can eat one fifth of your weight a day.
Your obelisk posture avoids solar
radiation, yet before you are named,
you can become extinct, though ancestors
can return on your winged frames,
as the Samurai believed, adopting
your form on lacquered and gilded helmets,
in homage to the hovering rice gods.
In Wales you follow snakes and stitch up wounds;
in Sweden, sneak up on lying children;
your songs revived Mayan goddess, Ix chel.
And, when a mosquito tried to steal blood
from Emperor Jimmu, a demoiselle
zapped it. Henceforth, the lands below were called
Akitsushimai: Dragonfly Islands.
Today you shimmer round me and I know
your shy presence is a volt from the blue;
your iridescence a magical gift
like a glass goblet brought back from Venice;
given to one who may never go there.
02 Wednesday May 2018
Posted in Environment, Horticulture, Humour, Language, mythology, Nature, Nostalgia, Personal
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!
