poem

The Journey by Mary Oliver

January 18, 2020 By Ellen 1 Comment

The Journey One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice— though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. “Mend my life!” each voice cried. But you didn’t stop. You knew what you had […]

On a journey south and a delightful deceit… things I’ve learned lately

February 17, 2019 By Ellen 1 Comment

Write a post every day, she said (to herself, cos no one else cares). Let’s see how that goes then! And here we are a week later, but it’s been a good – and educational week. Here are the things I learned. The long way round still gets you there… (Also known as, confusingly, only […]

On getting dressed in the dark, sexual confusion and hair washing – things I’ve learned lately

February 5, 2019 By Ellen 1 Comment

It’s a huge relief, I must say, to have let myself off the hook and returned to little trivial blog posts like this – but with a structure. You should try it. I could include that as a learning, couldn’t I? Make some rules for yourself, then keep them. But, actually, that’s not really healthy, […]

Don’t worry, write a poem…

February 13, 2018 By Ellen Leave a Comment

Sometimes you’ve got things to worry about and other times you worry even when there’s nothing much to worry about. It doesn’t make much difference in the end. My advice: Stop worrying and write a poem. Worry is a big black bird. It spends its hours on a wire. Waiting. And then at the slightest, […]

A poem – In a moment

August 9, 2017 By Ellen 2 Comments

First things first, nothing horrible has happened and everything is rather fine at the moment. I just wanted to see if I could catch the feelings in that moment when you hear some awful, life-changing news. When the tears won’t flow. This is the worst day of my life. The sharpest. Every second a pin-sharp, […]