roses
my love in secret
sent this secret to me
give me your self
give me your all
go like a wanderer
take to the road
walk calmly into the flames
burn without burning
burn, burn, as the
fire becomes roses
my blasphemies
are what god is
watch the glow of g
Memories
Posted on by James Woodward
We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.
Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient h
Baddesley Clinton
Posted on by James Woodward
Baddesley Clinton , is a moated manor house, located just north of Warwick ; the house was probably established during the 13th century when large areas of the Forest of Arden were cleared and eventually converted to farmland. The site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and the
Remembering Maya Angelou
Posted on by James Woodward
I started my blogging life in 2008 partly as a way of capturing my experience of a sabbatical in America. In the spring of that year I spent a month in Washington DC followed by three months in Chicago. It was a rejuvenating and very significant time. I managed to get o
A Tree….
Posted on by James Woodward
a tree telling of Orpheus
he spoke, and as no tree listens I listened, and language
came into my roots out of the earth, into my bark
out of the air, into the pores of my greenest shoots
gently as dew and there was no word he sang but I knew its meaning.
He tol
the costs of trying to avoid the inevitable
Posted on by James Woodward
From todays Church Times
James Woodward on the costs of trying to avoid the inevitable
Should We Live Forever? The ethical ambiguities of aging
Gilbert Meilaender
Eerdmans £11.99
HUMAN beings generally desire life. Most of us are grateful for the good gift that is our l
Tredegar House
Posted on by James Woodward
Tredegar House is a 17th-century Charles II country house mansion in the city of Newport that for over five hundred years was home to the Morgan family, later Lords Tredegar; one of the most powerful and influential families in the area. Described as "The grandest and most exub
her great shining
Posted on by James Woodward
The moon is a sow
and grunts in my throat
Her great shining shines through me
so the mud of my hollow gleams
and breaks in silver bubbles
She is a sow
and I a pig and a poet
When she opens her white
lips to devour me I bite back
and laughter rocks the moon.
&nb
For the small things – Thankfulness?
Posted on by James Woodward
Praises
I praise those things I always take for granted:-
The tap my sister turns on for my bath
Every time I stay, the safety pin –
And who invented it? I do not know –
The comb, the piece of soap, a shoe, its shine,
The name tape and the string, a lea
Words?
Posted on by James Woodward
Oranges
Be careful of words,
even the miraculous ones.
For the miraculous we do our best,
sometimes they swarm like insects
and leave not a sting but a kiss.
They can be as good as fingers.
They can be as trusty as the rock
you stick your bottom on.
But they ca
dahlia
Posted on by James Woodward
They brought me a quilled, yellow dahlia,
Opulent, flaunting.
Round gold
Flung out of a pale green stalk.
Round, ripe gold
Of maturity,
Meticulously frilled and flaming,
A fire-ball of proclamation.
From Amy Lowell, Autumn
petals
Posted on by James Woodward
somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look will easily unclose me
though i have closed myself as finge
Let us return?
Posted on by James Woodward
ultimate blue
Let us return to imperfection's school.
No longer wandering after Plato's ghost,
Seeking the garden where all fruit is flawless,
We must at last renounce that ultimate blue
And take a walk in other kinds of weather.
From Adrienne Rich, Ste
Image of the week : Black on Maroon by Rothko
Posted on by James Woodward
This painting comes from one of three series of canvases painted by Rothko in 1958-9 in response to a commission for murals for the small dining room of the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York. The Four Seasons, one of the smartest restaurants in the city, is in the Seagram Bui
English Cathedrals : Portsmouth
Posted on by James Woodward
The Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, commonly known as Portsmouth Cathedral, is the cathedral of the Diocese of Portsmouth, England and is located in the heart of Old Portsmouth.
Around the year 1180, Jean de Gisors, a wealthy Norman merchant and Lord o
Image of the week: A Busy Life by Dubuffett
Posted on by James Woodward
Painted in August 1953.
It is one of the series of paintings known as 'Beaten Pastes' (Pâtes battues) executed between March and December 1953 of which Dubuffet has written:
'These paintings are done with a smooth light coloured (almost white) paste, fairly thick, sp
A Holy Saturday walk – Windsor Great Park
Posted on by James Woodward
Windsor Great Park welcomes over two and a half million people every year.
Windsor Great Park, the only Royal Park managed by The Crown Estate, was once part of a vast Norman hunting forest which was enclosed in the late 13th century. The 2,020 hectares (5,000 acres) of pa
Easter – and the possibilities of transformation?
Posted on by James Woodward
When we read when we read the Gospel accounts of the resurrection we note how varied these experiences were. There is always a mystery, a greater depth, new things to uncover about the transformation possible because of Easter. If we delve beneath the surface of t
Here on the Cross is Love and Life
Posted on by James Woodward
Jesus final words finished. His life is finished. His ministry is finished. The scriptures are finished. The reconciliation of God and creation is finished.
This is good news – everything is lost except the heart of God laid bare. We might just get close enough to glimpse tha