Back along, on a crisp autumn day in October, the B****y Difficult Women had one of their regular gatherings. For those who may be wondering what on earth this involves, these are the friends who used to help with the dovegreyreader tent at Port Eliot Festival. It seemed a shame to stop meeting up just because I was no longer doing the summer bonanza, and so we gather twice a year somewhere central and bless that somewhere with our presence for coffee, lunch, shopping, afternoon tea and general merriment. Previous blessed venues have included Bath, Montacute House, Thomas Hardy’s cottage and Bristol, but this year it was the turn of Sherborne in Dorset. Specifically Sherborne because we all wanted to visit the Elementum Gallery.
Elementum Journal has been one of those gifts that keep on giving. There have now been five editions of
this beautifully presented collection of essays and photographs on place and people, journeys and discoveries, all immaculately curated by Jay Armstrong into a thing of joy. I still pick up and revisit the earlier editions and read the articles like old friends....the pilgrimages and the quiet revelations, with their sense of peace and tranquillity alongside the personal challenges happening in a world in flux. There is no preaching here, no beating around the head, just pure observation and love for both the ordinary and the unusual. Edition Five, with its stunning cover of volcanic flow in Hawaii has seemed very pertinent this last week or so as I follow the news from New Zealand with my usual obsessive interest. I get first-hand impressions from Offspringette and hearts go out to all those involved, to the courageous people searching and to a country which has endured its fair share of tragedy this year.
Jay Armstrong has now brought her quintessential values and themes from the journal to life, opening Elementum Gallery in Sherborne, and if you happen to be nearby it is well worth a visit. Alongside crafts and an array of really lovely ‘things’ Jay has collated a selection of books that segues perfectly with the Elementum ethos and I was spoilt for choice. In the end I came away with a few books which couldn’t be left behind.
Finding new poetry collections is always a treat and I picked up Zoology by Gillian Clarke, read the first poem, knew I would love this one and I wasn’t wrong. I’ve been reading it for over a month now, a few poems a day, maybe just one, a gap of a few days, read another and jotting down thoughts in a little notebook which seems to have become my new diary. Interestingly, given that I am very prone to marginalia in every other book, I read, I never write or underline in a poetry book because I want to come back to it as new each time. Much more about it eventually, but Zoology has already been elevated to sit alongside my treasured Alice Oswald and Mary Oliver collections as go-to sources for quiet inspiration and a touch of mindfulness when required. Having read Gillian Clarke's At the Source some years ago, I have Ice lined up to read next.
Maybe it was the picture of the hare that worked its magic too, bringing to mind Paul Durcan's poem that has stayed with me since reading it in the Candlestick Press pamphlet In Memoriam soon after my dad died. Staring Out the Window Three Weeks After His Death was my introduction to an Irish poet unknown to me...
Sitting by the bed of his dying father the poet likens his father's soul to a hare..
I saw that his soul was a hare which was poised
In the long grass of his body, ears pricked...
As the poem progresses, and his father's life draws to its close, that hare first approaches, then turns and bounds away disappearing out of sight. Convinced he will never see his father again there are tears, until suddenly the hare reappears...
'Springing out of the wood into a beach cove of sunlight
And I thought - yes, that's how it's going to be from now on:
The hare of his soul always there, when I least expect it;
Popping up out of nowhere, sitting still.'
Hares have always been a love of mine and, as I read this back in 2015, there was the bronze hare that my dad had bought me for my birthday sitting on the bookcase alongside. I took it as a sign and have rarely seen a hare in any shape or form since without whispering a quick 'Hello Dad'.
This is probably why I also succumbed to The Hare and the Moon - A Calendar of Paintings by Catherine Hyde. I'd had a little run of good fortune on eBay (thank you to the person in Malta who bought my lace-making pillow and bobbins) and I wanted to use the money for something special.
To be doubly sure I needed this I checked there was a picture of a barn owl...
Maybe Catherine Hyde's artwork is best know to you via greetings cards, but I can't tell you how much pleasure I have had from The Hare and the Moon already.
A month-by-month almanac of the phases of the moon and a hare's journey through the twelve months of the year. Beautiful pictures, a few words along with a flower, a tree and a bird of the month and it sits on a book-stand by my desk for gazing at when I am scribbling here. I turn a page every so often through the month and take in the words and pictures. December feels spot on as we head towards the solstice; that turning point when our valley sunsets will start to make their way back from their furthest point behind the trees.
A coal-dark month of mists and fog
when the sun sinks early behind the hill
Harsh against the hard land, the hare toils,
pulling the moon towards the longest night.
And she sings,
The Old Moon, The Snow Moon
The Sap Moon, The Crow Moon
The Hunger Moon, The Wolf Moon
Please do visit the gallery and Sherborne if you are nearby. I'll be going back because so much talking I didn't even get near the Abbey. Even better the journals make great Christmas gifts as would both these books. Treat yourself if nothing else, and please do leave a comment if you are an Elementum fan, have visited the gallery or know more about Gillian Clarke and Catherine Hyde.
PS Barn Owl update : They pass by and say hello most evenings at about 9pm but we don't think they are roosting in the box. The Barn Owl Trust are coming to repair the platforms in January and we will have everything crossed for repeat occupancy in February/ March. You'll be the first to know.
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