Michael Gambon reading Yeats

A great Soul has passed. Here is a beautiful reading of the Song of Wandering Aengus by W.B Yeats read by Michael Gambon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN_VPtGfsw0

Writing resources

Summer over and it's time to get down to submitting material to publishers. It's really hard to know how to go about this at the best of times but I came across a useful resource list which you may find helpful too.

 https://angelatcarr.wordpress.com/

Photos of Lucca

https://www.discovertuscany.com/lucca/

Catureglio, Tuscany, Italy

 

It would have been a pity to miss all this:

cypress topping Terracotta roofs,

going astray in a tangle of olive grove

lizard and agrimony underfoot

and hedge parsley and hartwort

butterflies skimming your lens.

And higher up, frescoed on the chapel roof,

the Virgin Mother radiating benevolence as she ascends into Heaven

And, beyond her, a soul sister of our very own Sile Na Gig

spouting blessings from a mossy fountain shrine

And under a hedge, facing forward and head intact,

a Child of Prague and a plea to heaven for a rainless wedding day.

I discover that this carved face in stone presiding over a fountain basin is called a mascaron. They were used symbolically to ward off evil spirits. See links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mascaron_(architecture)

Copyright 2023 Cathy Leonard All rights reserved

A Wedding Prayer

 

The Gathering

for Teresa and Rebecca and Sarah

 

On an Italian hillside they gathered

the scent of lemon, the brush of olive branch

the sound of cicada ringing the air.

He had flown over a thousand miles to be there,

to be placed under a laurel hedge

to be petitioned as a century before

at a grandmother’s wedding

and at a mother’s wedding, decades later.

And so they gathered again, this third generation of women,

to ask for fair weather, fair wind and a rainless day

in the shadow of the Apennines, in the dusk, under a Tuscan sky.

Copyright 2017 Cathy Leonard All rights reserved

Background to the tradition of The Child of Prague statue

https://onefabday.com/child-of-prague/

A Wedding Poem

Written for Eoin and Rebecca on the occasion of their wedding celebration in Tuscany, Italy. 

12th September 2023

Tying the Knot

 

In the time before the mountains she walked barefoot to the place

where one stream crossed another or a well was sunk in grace.

In the time before the mountains he would wait for her there

and someone drew a circle that would encompass the pair.

In the time before the mountains they would step into the space

and, arms extended, clasp hands and declare their embrace.

In the time before the mountains it would happen on a day

deemed gravid with occasion, like Beltane or Lughnasadh.

In the time before the mountains a braided ribbon would extend

from his hand to hers, wrist to wrist, end to end.

Hand fasting is what they called it, tying the knot we say today

from that time before the mountains on this most auspicious day.

 Copyright Cathy Leonard All rights reserved

 

To Write or not to Write a Poem

 

Well, you can read a poem instead

and marvel at the writer's skill

and berate yourself about your lack there-off

and hope that you will be inspired to emulate

Or you can sweep the crumbs off the table

with your new professional table brush

and imagine you are a waiter 

in, say, the Boulevard Saint Michel

Or you can rest your chin 

on the back of your upturned hand

in the mode of Michaelangelo's Thinker

and ponder the mysteries of life

Or you can meditate while pondering

and listen to the dog's tail thumping

the clock ticking ,a nearby crane swivelling 

its driver cursing

You can write a shopping list

a to-do list, a wish list

or check your emails,a sure-fire way 

of landing in a cul-de-sac

Or you can write a poem

about trying to avoid 

writing a poem

and simply don't edit it.

Copyright 2023 Cathy Leonard All rights reserved 

A daughter's request

 

You sent me to the Contour sale 

for the purpose of buying you new knickers.

Now it is no mean feat to purchase the above item

for somebody else, especially a size medium.

For it all depends on brand and nationality,

 French mediums being smaller than UK ones,

and so I had to hold each pair in mid- air

and imagine your girth fitting into them.

At times I turned to the woman

who was assiduously upending the pile

possibly restocking the fast dwindling bargain basket

for they were reduced to a fiver a pair.

And to be fair she bore my inquiries

with great composure. I didn't quite say,

"Do you think my daughter will fit into these?"

But my questioning veered in that  direction.

It was only when I asked about refunds

that she came clean and announced

that she didn't actually work there

that she too was bargain hunting

but in her case, thankfully, for herself...

Copyright  2023 Cathy Leonard All rights reserved

(Photo is of Skellig Michael and Little Skellig taken from Lamb's Head, Caherdaniel, Kerry)