While last year's readings were memorable for taking place under grey skies and sometimes teeming rain, the weather this year could hardly have been better. In the new venue, the Cornerstone Bookshop, we read in an old stone building, full of books of course, and with light coming in through an arched window, as you can see below.
Fr
Meslier at his desk
I
sharpened a new quill today
shaving
the pliant bone
fallen
from the wing of a sky-
wanderer,
its feathers shaded
mist-grey
to rain-grey,
gave
thanks so lovely a thing
had
come into my keeping,
its
balance between finger and thumb
the
poise of flight.
In
that moment I was out
of
myself, the sky above me
drawing
me on and up
blue
on blue on blue
without
end.
A
C Clarke
 | ||
| A C Clarke reading at the Cornerstone Bookshop (photo by Morelle Smith) |
THE MAGIC APPLE TREE
‘Comfort me with apples’
Cherry blossom pink and apple blossom
white or apple blossom’s deeper pink
as in Samuel Palmer’s magic apple tree
created for immortal Avalon
or for a taste of wisdom from the muse
from Venus, Friday’s child, with strongbow cider
fermented for a feast at harvest home.
Now hidden on a misty Scottish coast
old apple trees survive and are restored
each one to give its quintessential taste
in gardens of Lindores, its ancient abbey:
a gift to every sense and to more life
for birds, flowers, insects, thriving where
the apple reigns, cherished, venerated.
Tessa
Ransford
 |
| Tessa Ransford (photo by Mike Knowles) |
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