Going for coffee

The book and I are passing each other messages through a third party. Neither of us bothers with the niceties … More

Nine years ago today

Nine years ago today I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the white blood cells. Even though I have … More

Days Each one is a gift, no doubt, mysteriously placed in your waking hand or set upon your forehead moments … More

I am visiting the book. We have already been through a lot together, including the part where I killed it and … More

The Secret Two girls discover the secret of life in a sudden line of poetry. I who don’t know the … More

Cut through to what happens when you listen. Cut through to making it happen, listening for it, failing, then doing … More

Well, it’s happening. Happened, I mean. Stuff I thought would last forever -film titles, the actors in them, scenes of … More

I have finished the thing. People come up to me to say things. It seems to have gone well. While … More

Lately I have been pondering the practice of paying attention, vis-à-vis my habit of keeping a notebook to capture impressions, … More

Readers of this blog will know I have been thinking a lot about stationery recently. (Actually, that is something of … More

My blog post yesterday about the stationery thing provoked more responses than I ever imagined it would. Among the … More

At the start of each academic year, usually when I have known them for a week or so, I make … More

My wife and I are at the airport of a European capital city. It’s late on a Friday evening, the … More

Gift A day so happy.Fog lifted early. I worked in the garden.Hummingbirds were stopping over the honeysuckle flowers.There was no … More

I Am Not I I am not I. I am this one walking beside me whom I do not … More

I have been thinking a lot recently about Tomas Tranströmer’s poem ‘Alone’. When I first read it I was taken … More

Love for Now did not begin with an idea but an illness. As I have written elsewhere, there wasn’t a plan. I … More

With Only One Life Hold with both hands The tray of every day And pass in turn Along this … More