And another one

Pay attention

Only profound silence

makes that rushing sound,

akin to the flight of blood

from the heart to the head,

or to the tissue-paper rustle of a crowd

dancing to music so loud it’s in your teeth.

The slide under the thud; the torrent over the pulse.

You can live in that sound.

It makes for thought so deep

that when a bird slams into the window

or the phone rings

you’re burst open

and need a moment to see that nothing has changed,

you are where you were;

though the curved corners of your mind will echo

with the blows of a fierce and clamorous argument.

It will serve you well

to plumb the depths of this type of silence.

Sinking, you will come to rest on a solid bed;

rising, you’ll ascend steady as a diver,

and break the surface, open your mouth

and speak.

(First published in New Contrast 164 Vol 41, No 4)

I'm still thinking

On appearance, other than the reading updates it may seem as if this blog has fallen dormant, as if it has burrowed down and is sleeping through a winter of many months. 

But it’s still breathing, and it’s on my mind on an almost daily basis, accompanied with a rarely satisfied urge to write something for myself. I was going to make a generalisation and say, ‘I guess this is what happens when one’s day job is closely related to one’s creative impulses and interests,’ but authors such as Anne Michaels and Ivan Vladislavić, and others I’m sure, are living proof to the contrary. 

So I’ll speak for myself and say, without including myself in the category of author, ‘I guess this is what has happened: My day job is closely related to my creative impulses and interests to the extent that doing the former seems to be robbing me of time and brain power with which to fulfil the latter.’ It’s a sad and frustrating state of affairs, but like many others in life I have the power to change it. And I will. Dust is quick to stir up but slow to settle; however, at some point some of my thoughts will come into focus.

Three days and a date

More funny little litoverlaps:

Recently I finished reading Ian McEwan’s Saturday, and straight away began Rumer Godden’s Coromandel Sea Change. The first chapter of Godden’s book is also titled ‘Saturday’. Then I read Deon Meyer’s 7 DAYS, and the first chapter of that book is titled ‘Saturday’.

Also, the first date mentioned in Meyer’s book – 4 March – was the date of the day that I began reading his book.