Since men wrenched back the clocks, twilight catches me unawares. The night steals in stealthily, and lands fast. Tonight will be imbued with magic. Samhain- the turning of the year. The going into the dark.
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Ariel by Sylvia Plath - the reconstruction
Saving Sylvia: liberating words and re-finding the poet
I’m always trying to word-craft my way to freedom and happiness. It’s even, often, that words are a lifeboat; I save my own life by and in the writing. But what if I’ve been making a mistake? What if that which I seek can only be found, not in the words themselves, but in the space around the words—in the hush of the gap after the final stanza? What if, instead of writing that narrative arc (Act 1, Act 2 and Act 3 and the denouement), I started with Act 3 and just stayed there…?
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Ariel - Poem by Sylvia Plath. Read by Bridget Holding
For the Love of Poetry and Nature: Ariel by Sylvia Plath
The Extraordinary Lightness of Rock
Words may be relative–and little bitty things at that–but they can contain and express the most vast.
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I. Will. Roar.
"My plan for the rest of my life is to set myself on fire with enthusiasm…"
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Rushing at Times Like Flames
The joy of reading poetry by the sea: ‘Rushing at Times Like Flames’ by Nelly Sachs (1891-1970)
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Mirabai in the Mountains
in wild words, poetry, nature
The moon was perched like a golden hawk on the mango tree…
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About 'Phoenix: The Delusional Detective'
Phoenix is self-harming, suicidal and sectioned. She has visions in which Sherlock Holmes tells her she can be a great detective. Hers is a story of murder, detection, and hope in a seemingly hopeless world. When else has a group of people, considered the dregs of society, become superheroes? This is the first chapter of the, as yet, unpublished crime novel 'Phoenix: The Delusional Detective’.
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Writing and Storytelling: To Survive, and to Thrive
I am an integrative arts-based psychotherapist, and a creative writing tutor with a background in screenwriting. My passion is in exploring how a fusion of theories and techniques from these two disciplines might inform each other, to enable growth and healing in the therapy room and beyond. This article was first published in Spring 2016 in The Psychotherapist Magazine.
Read MoreRadical New Year’s Resolutions for Writers
Dear Writers, carriers of story, crafters of words, metaphorical creatures, wild ones… For this New Year, how about you join me in giving a load of stuff up? May I give up the idea that I’m not a good writer, or that what I’m saying isn’t worth saying. That one doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
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The Magic of Metaphor
Understand the profound implications of embodied and conceptual metaphor, and how they extend to metaphor on the page, in order to become a better writer. This article was first published in Writing Magazine in 2013.
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Writing Your Memoirs
Most of us, at one time or another, experience events in our lives that feel unfinished, traumatic, or are just highly emotional. At these times, energy can become stuck in our nervous systems. This interview was first published in Saga Magazine in 2016.
Read MoreWriting, Nature and the Self
The importance of a holistic, embodied approach to storytelling (written and oral). When we re-find our wildness, and function in tune with our environment, and ourselves, we bring vitality and health into our stories, as well as into our lives.
Read MoreEmbodied Writing as Therapy
A case study in embodiment and writing. ‘An interesting fusion’. That’s what my project ‘Wild Words’ was once called by a fellow psychotherapist, and yes, he was looking down his nose at me….
Read MoreCreative Flow at Ways With Words
Muriel Rukeyser said that one writes in order to feel, but it’s also true, I believe, that one reads in order to feel. The ‘Ways With Words’ festival embraces writers and readers of poetry and prose, fact and fiction. It’s a celebration of the human ability to tell and receive narratives.
Read MoreThe Caged Animal Roars
in fiction
You feel disconnected from yourself. Sitting in the office one day, it strikes you that these days there are three levels of separation between you, and the world. You live mostly inside a computer, which is inside the room, which is inside the office (or, in the morning and evenings, the house).
Read MoreThe Full Moon Of November
BH: “Why on earth did I say I’d write poetry about the moon? I can’t even see Her for the rain!”
EW: “ You know She’s there though.”
Read MoreThe New Moon Of November
Grieving for the loss of light and heat.
In different places,
but in the same darkness,
and under the same new moon,
we dream of the ripening of the pale, full orb.
Read MoreChild's Play
Everything in the life of my four year-old son is about interacting with the physicality of things, seeing how the outside world impacts on his body.
Read MoreEaster in France
As in the UK, we’re just emerging from Easter weekend here in Southern France. Yesterday, we went out to celebrate ‘Paques’, loaded with fresh eggs to cook over a wood fire.
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