Roderick White

 I would encourage you to read this analysis of  ' Death and the Moon ' by Carole Ann Duffy. Taking the moon as a symbol of death, this poem is about grief, but there are some beautiful images of her house tender with the light of the moon and of the goldfish in the pond as tongues of the the water's mouth. The above link goes into depth about the poem and is well worth a read.

  I have been taking a deep look at the theme of ‘the moon’ and ‘moon poetry’. Considered by some as cliché the moon has fascinated us from the beginning of time. For the poet themes such as stillness, loneliness, beauty – for modern man we now have to consider if we want to return to the moon – could we start a colony on the moon, mine the moon? Who owns the moon? These are the issues (and more) that we are dealing with now. For myself, with a scientific background in geology, I am curious, we do need to study the moon and perhaps return. I regret ‘Moon Landing’ by W.H. Auden. It is a ‘grumpy’ poem reflecting the negative attitudes to the 1969 moon landing. It seems ‘dated’ now to say that NASA was a ‘boys club’ and that no girl would have thought of travelling to the moon – especially after the film ‘ Hidden Figures ’. I thought for a start I would compare one of the classic ‘Old poems’ number 7, From Arthur Waley’s ‘Chinese Poems’ with ‘Sad Steps’ by Philip Larkin. Number 7 ...

 This is the start of what I hope will be a series on the theme of loneliness and what we can learn from poetry. These three poems are chinese, we can see in the first poem, 'I will be alone' the poet standing alone at night looking at a lake at Kuen-ming. Thinking about glories from the past, now the lake is a bare mirror for the stars and whilst there is plenty to see after the north wind blows he will be alone with unhappiness. The second poem, 'Wild geese' takes a different perspective, it describes a house, a high tower with a woman who is all alone and she sings a song whilst playing a lute, the worst thing about being so sad is that no one understands the sorrow in her song. WILD GEESE FAR IN THE NORTHWEST STANDS A HOUSE, HIGH ITS TOWER IN THE CLOUDS. EMBROIDERED CURTAINS ARE AT THE WINDOWS. THE TOWER RISES IN THREE STEPS, AND FROM THE TOWER FLOATS A SONG, A SAD SONG WITH A SAD LUTE PLAYING BESIDE IT. WHO CAN THE SINGER BE? SURELY IT IS SHE WHO HAS NO HUSBAND LEF...

For international Women's day:  I Shall Paint My Nails Red by Carole Satyamurti Because a bit of colour is a public service. Because I am proud of my hands. Because it will remind me I'm a woman. Because I will look like a survivor. Because I can admire them in traffic jams. Because my daughter will say ugh. Because my lover will be surprised. Because it is quicker than dyeing my hair. Because it is a ten-minute moratorium. Because it is reversible.

  A couple of weeks ago Fleur had a problem with her tail and it had to be amputated. Here you can see her wonderful tail.