Dark Winter's Tales

I read 'White Crow' by Marcus Sedgewick yesterday, by the fire, in the dark evening. It is gripping and unusual and I loved it! On the way to meet my friend on Friday, I read 'Crow' by Frances Horovitz. Beautiful.

Crow

hieroglyph between hills
inheritor of high trees
sudden wreckage of silence
cry alien among birds

ragged wing flap
startling the calm air
deceitful dalliance
black spy in the land

guardian on post and wall
watchful each in his own field
in beady surveillance
cottage and dark wood

I have two other dark, but funny things to share. The first is this quote from eBay-I was in the vintage book section of eBay, idly browsing, when I came across this book-

Vintage 1948 Spiritualism book called "Voices of the Passed" by Major J.H. Webster.

'The book is in good condition, although cover seems to have a few tiny pain splashes on it.'

I thought that splashes of pain were most appropriate for a book all about summoning the dead!

The second is a joke I heard on the radio on the way home. it was on a programme about numbers, and the final part was the guests talking about their favourite number. The one I liked was this-'664, the neighbour of the beast'.

P.S. Look-white crows!

Black Cats

There are two black cats in this post. One is my old cat Connie (named after the main character in 'Woman on the Edge of Time) She was my first cat after I left home. We found her and her kitten, Meep, in a box in our back yard in Leicester. We did try to find owners but they had obviously been left there. One big, scary man came round, just wanting the kitten (Meep was a beautiful grey colour) but we refused. Connie was a beautiful and gentle cat. She had such a lovely nature. She was pure black but used to go a bit rusty in the summer! This painting is of her in our back garden in another house. She had two friends who visited-black and white boy cats who are always friendly. One was called 'One Eye' (for obvious reasons) and the other 'two eye' We also had Meep, Boris and later Halo (after Halo Jones!) It was a very catty house!

The other cat is in this Thomas Hardy poem. I heard on the news this morning that it was international poetry day so I started thinking about this poem. I can find no reference to today in that way on the internet though so I may have it wrong! Andy loves poetry and has shown me many of his favourites over the years. This is one of my favourites.

Snow In The Suburbs

Every branch big with it,

Bent every twig with it;

Every fork like a white web-foot;

Every street and pavement mute:

Some flakes have lost their way, and grope back upward, when

Meeting those meandering down they turn and descend again.

The palings are glued together like a wall,

And there is no waft of wind with the fleecy fall.

A sparrow enters the tree,

Whereon immediately

A snow-lump thrice his own slight size

Descends on him and showers his head and eyes,

And overturns him,

And near inurns him,

And lights on a nether twig, when its brush

Starts off a volley of other lodging lumps with a rush.

The steps are a blanched slope,

Up which, with feeble hope,

A black cat comes, wide-eyed and thin;

And we take him in.

I have had to use colours as blogger will not leave my spaces alone!

Found Poem

A while ago Shell posted about diving into word pools and writing poetry from your finds. The idea stayed in the back of my mind. Last Saturday I went for a walk to take a break from work and I photographed words. I printed them, made new words from longer ones, and played around with them to make my poem. I enjoyed fiddling around with the words until it seemed right.
Well, after a whirlwind week of colour and report writing I now have the messy house from a tidy person's nightmare. I am almost looking forward to tidying it and relaxing in it for a while before it makes itself into a mess again!