Helen Lowe's Blog, page 169
November 17, 2014
The Tuesday Poem: “One Day”, from the Ithaca Conversations Sequence
One Day
He sits in the wide door to his father’s house,
playing with toys,
crudely painted soldiers with gilded helms,
gleaming in the sun.
His nurse tells him he is a prince,
will be a king some day, and a warrior;
his mother stoops, whispers,
tells him of his father who is king,
long lost, long sought,
longed for …
One day, she murmurs,
lips soft against his sun-warmed hair,
one day—a world full of longing,
echoes of an endless sea,
all encompassing.
After, he will always see her thus:
standing in the empty...
November 16, 2014
“…and don’t waste time. Start now.”
Yesterday, I quoted US writer, educator, artist, brand consultant, and radio host, Debbie Millman more fully—but I think what most resonated with me was the part of the quote that concluded: “…don’t waste time. Start now.”
When speaking about writing, I often quote Hippocrates, to the effect that “life is short but the art long”, so one should indeed, “start now.”
It’s easy to have one’s energy dissipated into the distractions of degrees, careers, etc. but if the muse is calling, then I believe...
November 15, 2014
“Imagine immensities, don’t compromise, and don’t waste time.” — Debbie Millman
“If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve. Do what you love, and don’t stop until you get what you love. Work as hard as you can, imagine immensities, don’t compromise, and don’t waste time. Start now. Not 20 years from now, not two weeks from now. Now.”
~Debbie Millman
—
This is my “writing” quote for the week, from US writer, educator, artist, brand consultant, and radio host, Debbie Millman. I think it’s fabulous and I hope you enjoy it, too.
November 14, 2014
Inside Middle Earth: West Coast Nikau Palms
For me, nikau palms are an essential NZ (aka “Middle Earth” from the Lord Of The Rings films)—& NZ West Coast—image.
So much so, that they characterize my poem, Songs From The Sea:
“Songs from the sea sighing
in beneath the spindrift to the land’s
curve, lying long beneath green bush
where the nikau palms stand sentinel
all along that shining margin
between sea and land…”
November 13, 2014
A Geography Of Haarth: Wymark
The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick
The A Geography of Haarth post series explores the full range of locales and places from The Wall of Night world of Haarth. In the series, each entry is accompanied by a quote from the books in which the place appears, currently either The Heir Of Night or The Gathering Of The Lost, or both.
This is the Very Last entry for A Geography Of Haarth, for now. We have traversed Haarth from A to, well, W (because currently there are no entries...
November 12, 2014
Random Reflections On Story & Storytelling
A couple of weeks back, I threatened to post on “whether “story” is greater than the sum of its constituent “craft” parts…” in the near future.
Today is that day. 
For me, story is the thing, before which all other aspects of the writing life must bow down—including me, when I’m writing, i.e. the integrity of the story is paramount (‘in my book’—ha!)
In my ‘umble view, I feel that one can labour over plot and subtext, character development, structure and pacing, beginnings and endings—yet still...
November 11, 2014
Poetry In Performance: Siobhan Harvey & Frankie McMillan Live at Canterbury Poets Tonight
Over the past three weeks, I have been featuring poems by Siobhan Harvey for the Tuesday Poem. Frankie McMillan has also featured here on several occasions.
So naturally I’m thrilled that both Siobhan and Frankie are reading tonight as part of the Canterbury Poets’ Spring Season — from 6.30 pm at the CPIT Imagetech Theatre, 5 Madras Street.
Siobhan and Frankie are both wonderful poets so I am thrilled to have the opportunity to hear them read again. They will be joined by a third poet, Hamish P...
November 10, 2014
The Tuesday Poem: Featuring Siobhan Harvey & “Autistic Cloud Boy Visits Auckland Art Gallery”
.
1. Taranaki (and cloud), Wanganui, 15 April 1986
Studying Aberhart, Cloudboy takes up a camera, empties land
of everyone except his mother, pictures the bare pathos of
what remains in photography, in black and white clouds.
2. A Pair of Godwits
Studying Palmer, Cloudboy wings his mother to canvas
desolate as a godwit’s flight; below cadmium sky, in oily air,
they nest until the pull of somewhere else – a cloud – rises
them to portray each other at the...
November 9, 2014
Thinking More About That Blood Moon…
credit: Patty Jansen; reproduced with permission
Last Monday, I posted on how the recent blood moon (full lunar eclipse) had sparked reflections on the significance of the moon in Fantasy. If you haven’t done so yet, you can read the post here:
The Blood Moon—& The Moon In Fantasy
Since then, I’ve been thinking more about the blood moon event itself—and how glad I am that I was able to watch the full eclipse and just how wonderful it was to see the full, reddish moon in the night sky. Those of y...
November 8, 2014
w00t! I’m Reading “Words Of Radiance” At Last! What Are You Reading?
Right now I’m very pleased to finally be starting Brandon Sanderson’s Words Of Radiance, which is Book 2 in the Stormlight Archive series.
As you may recall, I loved the first book in the series, The Way of Kings when I read it in 2011, as reported on here, so have been looking forward to getting into Book 2 for some time.
I’ve also been re-reading Anne McCaffrey’s Restoree, which I loved as a teen — it’s great reacquainting myself with the story & deciding what it is was that spun my wheels as...
