Purple Iris

An image from Freda's garden.

More images can be seen here

The Nature of Things

Hermes with Gift, is Dawn Wood's new poetry collection, published by The University of Abertay Press.

Cover image is by the Scottish artist Ronald Forbes, whose work is currently showing at Perth Museum and Art Gallery (until 15th October).

Hermes with Gift can be bought online at the University of Abertay Press
.and is also for sale at Perth Museum and Art Gallery.

On the Nature of Things is from this collection




ON THE NATURE OF THINGS

Just as a hummingbird – one so small

it is no more than a moth, half the length

of your thumb – still has the correct parts

overlaid and sleek, so it is with atoms.

Just as a baby sparrow can’t help

the gorgeous patterning of white spearheads

on its breast, a feast for St Sebastian,

so it is with atoms. Omnipresent,

plain and overlaid with only void.

The void that takes the form of a human

hand, that holds the gift of a thorn,

the spur of a rose, a greener field.

Dawn Wood

.

Epiphany and Sunflowers

EPIPHANY

HELIANTHUS ANNUS

For me an epiphany is one of the wonders of the world that touches ones heart and spirit, affects us physically, psychologically and emotionally. Yet I believe that this experience is not only felt by us humans but is a universal phenomenon, a celebration of life itself.

Therefore I have entitled my artwork, Helianthus annus, (Sunflower). Sunflowers have a type of phototropic response called heliotropism (sun turning). The leaves and heads of young sunflowers follow the sun and so to my mind they experience a daily epiphany as their heads turn each morning to the sunrise.

This piece is a mixed media triptych 35cm X 22cm and is constructed from recycled barrel struts, my handmade paper from sunflowers grown in my garden and pressed leaves and petals, collage and paint. All my artwork is predominately made from recycled/found materials, apart from paint and hanging materials.

My work has been widely exhibited in Edinburgh, East Lothian, North East Scotland, Dundee and Rome. Unfortunately I have not yet got round to organising a website!

Coincidentally, International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day is 1^st May when guerrilla gardeners around the world plant sunflowers in neglected public places and bare roadside verges in their neighbourhood. The day the exhibition opens!

Mary Archibald.

A Cup of Kindness

A cup of Kindness

Faith, Hope and Charity

wrote St Paul in his hymn to Love

these three abide

In Iraq, explains Canon White on the radio,

Democracy is not what people yearn for

blasted on them as it was through missiles and bombs

What they most want, why can’t we understand,

is water, electricity and kindness

life, communication, things working normally

God only knows

Buddha only knows

Mohammed only knows

everyone knows we want the kindness

which lies at the heart of our being

For boys and girls, men and women, animals and plants

for all who go about their lives

for daily bread and caring for one another

it is kindness we want

In Scotland we have given a song to the world

‘a cup of kindness’

to take, to drink, to share

Water, electricity and kindness,

but the greatest of these is kindness.

Tessa Ransford

Beltane - The Fire

I put you – at the top of the tree,

here, where the gold tangles

with hair and bruised skin -

I pull you out of my heart

and feel the hot brand

tight as a hoop and round as the sun

jump in -

yellow blossom outside,

on the inside, this fire

that aims to consume me

'to my one desire'.

Morelle Smith

Easter Poem

SHEER LIFE

Jesus I’ve worshipped again and again in the beautiful and young
but was he a gaunt prophet, even ugly with fasting and praying,
travelling and teaching, thinking and doing, living and dying and living
again -
for his goodness appears in the human through what is imperfect,
where weakness makes an epiphany in the fabric of flesh?

We are not like swans which moult and renew their plumage year after year
to look like disguised princesses; in the human such sheerness is veiled
except in glimpses in smiles in touches in pain in forgiveness.

The sacred is not constructed, intended but can be discovered, created.
A lamb lies dead in the snow at Easter; one more infinitesimal death
yet some angel knows and we, however broken, must act as angels ourselves.


Tessa Ransford

Planetary Movements, Spring Tides and Equinox

Joseph Proskauer gives us an equinoctial update on the movements and visibility of the planets and the effects of full Moon and spring tides.

March brings Mercury's best evening apparition of the year (worthwhile, as few of us have knowingly seen Mercury):

Mercury also happens to spend the week through Friday March 18th within 5° of Jupiter. (That's half the width of your fist at arm's length.)

All you need is a clear evening and a viewing site with an good view down to the west horizon. Note the spot where the Sun sets, and then start scanning above (and slightly to the left) of there for Jupiter. Jupiter may be visible immediately if the air is very clear, but it will be more obvious 15 or 30 minutes later when the sky is darker (though Jupiter will also be lower).

Once you've found Jupiter, look for Mercury near it. These are by far the brightest objects in that part of the sky, so there's no chance of mistake. (The only possible confusion would be from airplanes; but airplanes will shift within a minute or two, while Jupiter and Mercury stay put except for their gradual descent toward the horizon.)

In a remarkable coincidence, both planets pass through perihelion this week (closest to the Sun in their orbits). Mercury has a perihelion every 88 days, but Jupiter has one only every 12 years.

Mercury appears higher each evening in March until the 22nd, while Jupiter appears ever lower. So by the end of that period, Mercury may actually be the more obvious of the pair, despite the fact that it's slowly fading. Starting around March 25th, Mercury plunges back toward the Sun, fades rapidly, and soon becomes hard to locate with the unaided eye.

Equinox -- March 20th:

One of the two days each year when the sun rises truly in the east, and sets truly west.

What shape does the tip of a shadow trace on the Equinox? Try marking the tip of any shadow (post, roof, tree, or standing stone) every hour or two during the day.

Equinoctial events at Cairn Holy:

Full-moon rise: Around sunset Friday March 18 (before 5:30 PM at Cairn Holy).

Equinoctial sunrise -- the heart of the year at Cairn Holy:

Closest (most perfect) sunrise is Sunday March 20th (shortly after 6:30 AM at Cairn Holy -- allowing for eastern ridge). But all sunrises that week (e.g. Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday) will show the general phenomenon. There are further interesting events which follow throughout the morning.

Midday: Cairn Holy's midday alignment is visible any sunny day; local noon is currently 12:28 -- progressing to 12:26 for the equinox weekend.

Equinoctial sunset: before 5:30 PM (at Cairn Holy).