When I wrote my poem for Neil and Chris I came across this poem/book chapter that I had not put here on the blog. Part five will follow soonish. Early parts are back in May etc.
Bike Cycle Story Part Four
God there’s a sign for Beachy Head
Wouldn’t it be fun if…
I’ll cycle there and see how I feel
I feel scared
Looking over the edge
Hearing the surf
Smelling the sea
No, I won’t jump
But I will
I will
Throw the bike
Over the edge
It goes
And crashes
Down
Below
I turn away
Dawn is breaking
I’m not
I feel free
Free of the bike
Free to walk away
No more cycling
On these weary legs for now
I throw a coin
Left to Cornwall
Right to Dorset
Cornwall it is.
Monday, 6 October 2008
Poem for Neil and Chris
Poem for Neil and Chris
Back in 1990
Discography
On my Walkman
Neatly filled in the time
Between my home and my new lover’s
Your words were
A backdrop to my new passion
Your soft centred irony
Allowed my own mushiness
See the light of day
Your melancholy poetry spoke to my soul
And my being danced to your music.
Back in 1990
Discography
On my Walkman
Neatly filled in the time
Between my home and my new lover’s
Your words were
A backdrop to my new passion
Your soft centred irony
Allowed my own mushiness
See the light of day
Your melancholy poetry spoke to my soul
And my being danced to your music.
Frankie gets an email from a Greek Goddess
Frankie asked me to run this email here:
Dear Frankie
this is a Greek Goddess speaking :).....so, i heard you went to this island called Domestos? tell me more about your experience there....where did you find it on the map? how does it look like and why did you choose to visit?
there is a rumour that you are gay (???) what a pity as i reckon that you are a cool guy...and it is scary when the imbalanced ratio between men and women on the globe is going so crazy that, for a woman to find a man seems to be getting more and more difficult. also, just to inform you that the rumour around Lesvos being the island with homosexual history is a completely distorted version of many western scholars misinterpreting ancient Greek script....i do not hold anything against one's preferences in sexual expression but also, it is so frustrating when the mostly magic scripts around what love means (and it is 'love of spirits' that Plato refers to in the Symposium, not sleeping with each other as many have read it due to the lack of extensive and variated vocabulary around types of love in other languages). So, if you want to have wild life in Greece, go to Mykonos where there is a version of Manchester's Canal Street but under sunshine and is mostly occupied by tourists....but if you'd rather want to reflect on your true essence, then visit Delphi
you shall start learning ancient Greek, Frankie, to be able to read the real stuff yourself, do not trust the translations please
and...take good care of the Boss, he is a remarkable man!
the Goddess
Dear Frankie
this is a Greek Goddess speaking :).....so, i heard you went to this island called Domestos? tell me more about your experience there....where did you find it on the map? how does it look like and why did you choose to visit?
there is a rumour that you are gay (???) what a pity as i reckon that you are a cool guy...and it is scary when the imbalanced ratio between men and women on the globe is going so crazy that, for a woman to find a man seems to be getting more and more difficult. also, just to inform you that the rumour around Lesvos being the island with homosexual history is a completely distorted version of many western scholars misinterpreting ancient Greek script....i do not hold anything against one's preferences in sexual expression but also, it is so frustrating when the mostly magic scripts around what love means (and it is 'love of spirits' that Plato refers to in the Symposium, not sleeping with each other as many have read it due to the lack of extensive and variated vocabulary around types of love in other languages). So, if you want to have wild life in Greece, go to Mykonos where there is a version of Manchester's Canal Street but under sunshine and is mostly occupied by tourists....but if you'd rather want to reflect on your true essence, then visit Delphi
you shall start learning ancient Greek, Frankie, to be able to read the real stuff yourself, do not trust the translations please
and...take good care of the Boss, he is a remarkable man!
the Goddess
Friday, 3 October 2008
Spiritual help
At work yesterday talking with a colleague C I suddenly realised something important. It goes like this:
The 12 Step programme used by AA and other addicts starts with a first step:
"We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable."
and then says:
"Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."
It seems to me that we, the human race, are just not getting together to truly face the ecological challenge of climate chance. The current financial crisis has caused these issues to slip down the political agenda at a time when we are running out of time. The longer it goes on without effective action being taken the greater the action needed. So why not admit our powerlessness to make the necessary changes?
The next step is to recognise we need spiritual help, not as in leave it all it all to God but as in we need spiritual support to truly face the challenge of global warming. To realise that we are unlikely to save human life on the planet without doing so.
And this does not have to be about belief. It can be seen to be about experience. Time is too short and precious for theological debate and argument. (We don't have the luxury of the time the Christian churches have had to figure out equality issues around women and gays!) The simple truth of when two or more people are gathered in a loving encounter then more (spiritual) resource is available. We need this extra help. It's not religious its spiritual, its freely available you don't have to believe only feel the truth that we are all part of creation we are all in this together we are all interlinked with one another and the planet. We just (just!) need to live this out.
Best to all,
Bill
The 12 Step programme used by AA and other addicts starts with a first step:
"We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable."
and then says:
"Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."
It seems to me that we, the human race, are just not getting together to truly face the ecological challenge of climate chance. The current financial crisis has caused these issues to slip down the political agenda at a time when we are running out of time. The longer it goes on without effective action being taken the greater the action needed. So why not admit our powerlessness to make the necessary changes?
The next step is to recognise we need spiritual help, not as in leave it all it all to God but as in we need spiritual support to truly face the challenge of global warming. To realise that we are unlikely to save human life on the planet without doing so.
And this does not have to be about belief. It can be seen to be about experience. Time is too short and precious for theological debate and argument. (We don't have the luxury of the time the Christian churches have had to figure out equality issues around women and gays!) The simple truth of when two or more people are gathered in a loving encounter then more (spiritual) resource is available. We need this extra help. It's not religious its spiritual, its freely available you don't have to believe only feel the truth that we are all part of creation we are all in this together we are all interlinked with one another and the planet. We just (just!) need to live this out.
Best to all,
Bill
The Boss meets Q
After breaking down in sobs in the office during Frankie's holiday absence on the Greek island of Domestos (Not Lesbos as widely rumoured!)the Boss sought an emergency session with his spiritual director Q. Now read on:
"Hi Boss you sounded awfully troubled when you rang me up"
"Yes, it just felt all too much for me, coping with so much going on at work and no Frankie. And however much I slag him off and however imperfectly he performs he makes a real difference. And you know I miss him.... what's wrong with me?
"Hmm... It sounds all too human to me."
"Whatcha mean?"
"Well it's the busiest time of your year, right?"
"Yeah"
"And Frankie, key player in your team is away, right?"
"Yeah"
"Any arrangements in place to cover for his absence"
"Well no, I just got on with things, He had done all he could before he left-"
"Remember how often you have told me that it's an impossible job?"
"Uh huh"
"So when a key player of your team is not there, and let's face Frankie above all acts as your gatekeeper and your emotional lodestone?"
"Whaaat?"
"He carries your emotional side, he allows you to have emotions, he embodies emotions, he paradoxically keeps you on an emotional even keel however strange that idea might seem"
"Oh (pause) what can I do?"
"Well what do you need practically?"
"Some kind of cover while he is away, however imperfect"
"Good and now what about your emotional side?"
"I find it really hard to admit these feelings"
"Yes"
"And I guess as a result they just build up until the dam bursts and the overwhelm me"
"Would it be so hard just to acknowledge your feelings from time to time?"
"The idea sounds simple but..."
"But?"
"I dunno"
Pause
"OK how are you feeling now?"
"Relieved, calmer able to go back to work and get on with things"
"Good."
"Hi Boss you sounded awfully troubled when you rang me up"
"Yes, it just felt all too much for me, coping with so much going on at work and no Frankie. And however much I slag him off and however imperfectly he performs he makes a real difference. And you know I miss him.... what's wrong with me?
"Hmm... It sounds all too human to me."
"Whatcha mean?"
"Well it's the busiest time of your year, right?"
"Yeah"
"And Frankie, key player in your team is away, right?"
"Yeah"
"Any arrangements in place to cover for his absence"
"Well no, I just got on with things, He had done all he could before he left-"
"Remember how often you have told me that it's an impossible job?"
"Uh huh"
"So when a key player of your team is not there, and let's face Frankie above all acts as your gatekeeper and your emotional lodestone?"
"Whaaat?"
"He carries your emotional side, he allows you to have emotions, he embodies emotions, he paradoxically keeps you on an emotional even keel however strange that idea might seem"
"Oh (pause) what can I do?"
"Well what do you need practically?"
"Some kind of cover while he is away, however imperfect"
"Good and now what about your emotional side?"
"I find it really hard to admit these feelings"
"Yes"
"And I guess as a result they just build up until the dam bursts and the overwhelm me"
"Would it be so hard just to acknowledge your feelings from time to time?"
"The idea sounds simple but..."
"But?"
"I dunno"
Pause
"OK how are you feeling now?"
"Relieved, calmer able to go back to work and get on with things"
"Good."
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Frankie's on Domestos
So my colleague Neil asked me recently 'How's Frankie?" How's Frankie indeed! Not here just when I need him. There I am battling into work through the driving rain on me bike get to work gasping for a coffee and no Frankie! (And no Raquel serving the coffee's either!) Then I remember he's grabbed a late cheap holiday on a Greek island - Domestos or something! I am sure he would welcome your emails - frankie.says@live.com as he suns hismelf on the beach!
So here I am in the office surrounded by papers, books, memoes, phone calls, visitors, double bookings, too many meetings, just been carpeted by 3 professors - and no Frankie!
I can't go on (sob!)
Pause
Message from Bill-on-bike - The Boss was rather overcome just then so I have sent him off for an emergency session with Q. Normal blogging will be resumed as soon as possible!
So here I am in the office surrounded by papers, books, memoes, phone calls, visitors, double bookings, too many meetings, just been carpeted by 3 professors - and no Frankie!
I can't go on (sob!)
Pause
Message from Bill-on-bike - The Boss was rather overcome just then so I have sent him off for an emergency session with Q. Normal blogging will be resumed as soon as possible!
Monday, 22 September 2008
On the road again
Last Friday I snatched a day off work - before the academic year kicks in - for a bike ride on my 50 mile training route around Alderley Edge. Training for what? you might ask. I don't know. I dream about another LEJOG without breaking it into bits. Or maybe a ride in Ireland, Germany, Africa - my list is long.
I felt I was on a mission to do my practice run yet again. This notion of 'mission' seems spiritual to me - 'What do you think Q?'
'If it feels to be spiritual then it is spiritual'
'Right.'
I think there is a lot to be said about what men do because they don't get pregnant! Other things have to be 'birthed' and something has to be done with our energies apart from drugs and rock and roll :).
It was so good to be out in the sunshine, in the open air, in the countryside. I needed this time out from ordinary life, in myself, in, and moving through, the world.
Best to all,
Bill-on-bike
I felt I was on a mission to do my practice run yet again. This notion of 'mission' seems spiritual to me - 'What do you think Q?'
'If it feels to be spiritual then it is spiritual'
'Right.'
I think there is a lot to be said about what men do because they don't get pregnant! Other things have to be 'birthed' and something has to be done with our energies apart from drugs and rock and roll :).
It was so good to be out in the sunshine, in the open air, in the countryside. I needed this time out from ordinary life, in myself, in, and moving through, the world.
Best to all,
Bill-on-bike
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