Blackbird Its eye a dark pool in which Sirius glitters and never goes out. Its melody husky as though with suppressed tears. Its bill is the gold one quarries for amid evening shadows. Do not despair at the stars’ distance. Listening to blackbird music is to bridge in a moment chasms of space-time, is to … Continue reading St. Anselm and the Blackbird
Author: jfmward
Author, bicycle enthusiast
Expressing conviction
In an earlier piece ('For us, there is only the trying') I observed that one of the insights that come with being a writer is the tentative nature of all writing, that it is always an attempt, and to that degree, never certain of success. I have been considering the implications of this insight since. … Continue reading Expressing conviction
The Opaque Window: a fable
People live beside an ancient wall. In the wall is an aperture, a window, which has great cultural significance for them. Many of them gather regularly to stare at the window, an odd practice, as all the panes are opaque; you can see nothing through it, though it does, to a very slight degree, admit … Continue reading The Opaque Window: a fable
The Bonfire of Responsibility
The thing about systems is that they are designed to work as a whole, each component interacting to produce the desired effect. To interfere with one part is to throw the whole out of kilter. If it is your job to make hard decisions it is wise to consider and indeed consult the opinion of … Continue reading The Bonfire of Responsibility
The Partygoers
[This story was originally published in 2014 by the Sarob Press, in The Book of Shadows 2, their second anthology of MR James sequels by various hands. This version has been slightly modified to make it easier to read aloud. There is a link to a spoken version, and some notes at the end reflecting … Continue reading The Partygoers
More thinking about thinking
As I remarked elsewhere, a lot of my own thinking might be described as ‘subvocalisation’, i.e. speaking without voicing the actual words. Even as I am typing this, I am constructing the sentences ‘in my head’ - though I would not say that I hear them: this is not someone else’s voice, it is mine, … Continue reading More thinking about thinking
A penny for them…
‘What are you thinking of? What thinking? What? I never know what you are thinking.’ – Eliot, The Waste Land ‘He’s the sort that you never know what he’s thinking’ defines a recognisable character but carries a curious implication. There is a strong suggestion of duplicity, of inner workings at odds with outer show. Even among … Continue reading A penny for them…
Who’s got the idea?
Suppose you catch me at my usual philosophical musing, mooning about and muttering to myself. I chance to say aloud, ‘I wonder when people first developed the idea of language?’ Being a practical sort, you say ‘Come with me. I happen to have brought a time machine and no end of wizard gadgetry, so we … Continue reading Who’s got the idea?
The trees they grow high, the leaves they do grow green: out on a limb with Schopenhauer
Well now. Suppose a leaf comes to consciousness. Does it say, 'I am a leaf'? Looking around, does it say 'I am one leaf among many'? Does it reflect on the fact that the lot of a leaf is to flourish briefly, wither and die, while the tree just keeps on growing, putting out more … Continue reading The trees they grow high, the leaves they do grow green: out on a limb with Schopenhauer
The Real Enemies of the People
‘This Bill requires a referendum to be held on the question of the UK’s continued membership of the European Union (EU) before the end of 2017. It does not contain any requirement for the UK Government to implement the results of the referendum, nor set a time limit by which a vote to leave the … Continue reading The Real Enemies of the People
COMPLEAT TROWZER 