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other tongues video - katherine

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Here is a video of the poem 'katherine' from the other tongues collection: Or watch it at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONofI8ffQU8 The text itself: katherine we’re making lunch in front of the telly but you’d rather pick up bits of potato peel from off the carpet not the least bit interested in stirring you look at me with a rim of blue fluff round your pink lips scowling hard wriggling your other hand from out between my grip and the wooden spoon which i think is fair enough except when i come back from the loo the saucepan is upside down and corn beef hash is splodged all over the floor a grin spread across your face and i wonder to myself would an eighteen month year old do that? as that’s how old the doctor says your mind is even though we celebrated your body’s twenty first year last week when you sat in your party dress in exactly the same spot hearing only la l- la la la la la l- la la la la la l- la la la la la ……. la l- la la l a la because there a...
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The Joy of Swimming

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Just read this quote on the ever-stimulating Brain Pickings blog( www.brainpickings.org/2016/04/26/the-joy-of-swimming-lisa-congdon /):  “As you swim you are washed of all the excrescences of so-called civilization, which includes the incapacity to be happy under any circumstances.” (Anaïs Nin)  Man, I need to get back in the pool! A poem will suffice till then: Lane Swimming The Victorians kept frogs in poolside tubs as exemplars of sharp kicks and a certain poise atop the water, and still at my local club an amphibious gait’s the stroke of choice, where swim-caps drift in lines like orange buoys, except for one whose feet erupt with spray: a Chinese student makes his way. Backstrokers lead the non-conformist set, along with one who wreathes her hair in a Sainsbury’s bag to stop it getting wet. Eyes cloistered in goggles feel safe to stare at these, and at a shape emerging for air, a tadpole wriggling, its tail newly splayed: a Chinese stu...
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First Burial of Ashes

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I assisted at my first burial of ashes last week - an unexpectedly thought-provoking occasion as the deceased was a trans woman. She had been one of the oldest people in the UK to transition through surgery in her seventies, and she had remained married to her wife who had been a faithful and supportive companion throughout the process. Her widow was present at the graveside and she seemed so kind and warm. Together the couple had had two children, both of whom were also there, along with a young grandson looking very earnest and smart in a shirt and tie. The lady's transition journey had provoked mixed reactions in this family, some responding comfortably, others struggling - but it didn't stop them coming together for the occasion and they seemed a lovely, united family as they huddled together with their arms round each other under umbrellas. It was a huge privilege to stand there in the midst of this family which had worked through this process together, and to offer prayer...
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