In the rush and flood of falsity and ill-doing that enter and surround our everyday lives, among all the mis-steps and momentous errors born of that rush and that falsity, I keep returning to certain physical landmarks that at least give the appearance of standing firm and of meaning something worth standing for.
One such landmark is St Aldhelm’s chapel.… continue reading
Category Martin Buber
A Severed Edge
Counting
This poem seems to follow on a bit from the previous one uploaded here. But whereas I wrote “I Insist my Ribs…” over three years ago, “Counting” has been written in the last few days.
I have a vague idea of what was in my mind as I wrote this latest poem. And looking at it now, I’m increasingly seeing… continue reading
The Value of our Distress
I equate “value” with “quality” and both of these with the right hand side of the brain.… continue reading
The Establishing of Ground
The reference here is to a book and an image I keep referring to. It is called “I and Thou” and is by Martin Buber.
Buber compares two essential ways of reaching out beyond the Self to meet the world : one is I – It (my object) and the other I – Thou (my neighbour).
In I-It mode, I… continue reading
What is a Hyphen to do in 2020 ?
There’s A and there’s B, but that’s not all. There’s also the connection between them. What is it ? They are sharing more than just the air. They were born to share more than just opposite sides of the same wall. A hyphen-line, a connecting scratch on the page, a fragile raft of some sort or other. Must it be… continue reading
Can Liberal Democracy Survive our Tumult ?
Can liberal democracy survive our tumultuous, bewildering, frightening, dangerous times ? Can it surmount them ? Can it contain and even direct the flailing social forces at work towards positive solutions, a viable human future ? As things stand, it seems not to be coping at all. It is surely in great danger of allowing and even encouraging the irresponsible… continue reading
Riding the Hyphen between I and Thou
With our present tumult and travails in mind, I have remembered a series of poems I wrote in the mid-nineties called “I Hyphen Thou.” I thought they might be relevant then, but they seem even more so now. Below are two short extracts. The idea of the hyphen is based on a book called “I and Thou” by Martin Buber.… continue reading