Last Night of the Proms
Category: Blogging

The Last Night of the Proms is a quintessentially English institution - difficult to explain to outsiders.

Yet every year when I stand in the grounds of Castle Howard, one of England's best known stately homes, listen to the English National Orchestra, albeit conducted by a Welshman, and watch a Spitfire, surely one of the most iconic planes of the last century, put on a aerobatic display, I get a lump in my throat......and I am Irish.

The link below will take you to a video I made, so the quality is my fault, last Saturday. I hope it captures some of the magic of the occasion.

Enjoy.

David


Dambusters

Currently listening : Last Night Of The Proms / Bryn Terfel, Evelyn Glennie, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Davis Release date: 2008-08-26

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My head is a dangerous place
Category: Writing and Poetry

My head is a dangerous place.

Currently reading : Anam Cara By John O'Donohue

3:43 AM - 66 Comments - 61 Kudos - Add Comment

Sunrise
Category: Writing and Poetry

Somewhere on the east coast of England
a web cam records a sunrise over the harbour.

Somewhere in America that image is seen,
frozen, captured, recorded for posterity
and a copy sent to me.

Somewhere in my soul, I am touched,
moved, inspired to write a poem -

Sitting on the fish dock,
in the early morning light,
I watch the flames engulf
the first and second piers.

In front of them the horsemen,
dressed in white, red, black and grey,
Inducing paranoia,
confusion, fear and helplessness.

I'm too late now to catch
the boat escaping out to sea.

I close my eyes, I take a breath,
I say, perhaps, a prayer,
I feel a warmth that's not of fire,
I look again, see gold.



Ó David Agnew 2008

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Destiny
Category: Writing and Poetry

Destiny

From out the distant mists,
the clouds of space and time,
I hear a beat, a rhythm,
the sound of far off drums.

Their calling seems insistent.
Yet for now I must resist.
Though they create an urgency,
tell me time's not on my side.

I have a want to make a mark
which says, not only, I've been here,
but in my passing through left more
than fading footprints in the sand.

So dim the sound of far off drums,
although they cannot be ignored.
For now there's things that I must do
to leave an imprint that's assured.



Ó David Agnew 2008


Writing this poem was the inspiration I needed to complete and publish my new book. It therefore forms the Epilogue in the book. 

David

Currently reading : The Revenge of Gaia: Earth's Climate Crisis & The Fate of Humanity By James Lovelock

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Humming Bird
Category: Writing and Poetry

Humming Bird

Somewhere in between the beats
of a humming bird's wings,
there is a moment,
a split second,
a blink of time,
which is gone before I even
knew that it was there.

If I freeze time
upon that moment,
I catch myself in motion,
going there or coming back,
but never still;
never stopping just to savour
each precious point in time.

And so I need to slow myself,
become awake, aware
that moments gone are past,
they cannot be redone.
Action, just for action's sake
can only serve me ill.
The humming bird does busy;
its purpose - to stay still.


Ó David Agnew 2008

Currently reading : The Revenge of Gaia: Earth's Climate Crisis & The Fate of Humanity By James Lovelock

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Another Day Begins
Category: Writing and Poetry

Just in case anyone starts to worry, this is a poem about my past.
It is not true today.
Although it was true then.

David

Another Day Begins

I wake up.
I hate that.
If I'm awake
I'm still alive;
I've failed again.

Every night I pray
this will be the last.
If I can't stop drinking
I'll drink myself to death.
But it seems I am alive.

The clock says half past six.
But which end of the day?
Morning or afternoon?
And which day? And is
there any whiskey left?

I haven't been sick, and
I haven't wet the bed,
but my head hurts, my chest hurts,
my stomach hurts, my heart hurts.
I really wish I was dead.

I pray there's some whiskey
left in the glass for
I need it to get
me out of this bed.
Another day begins.


Ó David Agnew 2006

Currently reading : Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times By Neil Astley Release date: 2003-04-02

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Ray of Hope
Category: Writing and Poetry

Ray of Hope

Sometimes, in the middle
of a long and lonely night,
when it seems memories
are all is left,

a ray of hope creeps in
surreptitiously,
penetrates eyelids
closed tight against the dark;

provides solace, just enough
to allow a troubled mind some rest;
persists through till morning,
gives light for brand new day.



Ó David Agnew 2008

Currently reading : THE HERRING GULL'S WORLD. A STUDY OF THE SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR OF BIRDS. By N. Tinbergen

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Magic Moments - 2nd excerpt from First I Dreamt the Journey
Category: Writing and Poetry

"Once upon a time" the old man began, "when the world appeared a simpler place, I grew up in a house which was as far as it was possible to be from the town and yet still be regarded as being in the town.

A place where the sound of cattle and sheep and geese was the norm, where the smell of the farmyard was ever present; where the rooster crowing at dawn was part of every day and where dogs were working animals, rather more than pets.

So often we do not notice their occurrence; we let them pass by without paying attention. But it is those moments which define our life's passage.

We would do well to reflect, to consider those moments, to consider their impact on our lives, to capture their essence, to become aware of the split seconds in time which changed our lives for ever"



Ó David Agnew 2008




To visit my main site and find out more click here

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Unconnected Things
Category: Writing and Poetry

Unconnected Things

I have a sense of worlds in parallel,
of things occurring
and then repeating,
but in a different time and different place.

Makes no sense, yet I wonder, in which of
these do I exist?
What part do I play
in similarity of unconnected things?

There is, perhaps, a greater pattern I
do not understand,
a bigger picture,
like a jigsaw, and all of us therein.

Best, I think, do not question, but study
so that I may find
wisdom, which is there,
in similarity of unconnected things.




Ó David Agnew 2008

Currently watching : The Bridges of Madison County (Full Screen Edition) Release date: 1997-03-26

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Poetry and Images
Category: Writing and Poetry

A little while ago I wrote two poems on the topic of memory and my interpretation of it. I read one of them at the Poetry Café.

I was told then that a local artist - Maria Bojanowska - was looking for poems about memory in order to use them as inspiration for an exhibition she was putting together.

So I sent her the poems. She used both. The exhibition was a few weeks ago and was a great success.

This blog contains both the poems and the pictures. As someone who takes images and converts them into words I am fascinated by the reverse process. I think Maria has done a superb job of that.

See what you think.

David

Tricks of Memory 1

I close my eyes and see again
words I saw with clarity,
leap from the page and speak to me,
made such an impact way back then.

I take the book, I keep it near,
and open it, then turn to find
words fixed surely in my mind,
yet nowhere do those words appear.

No matter. When I needed them,
and from my mind they never fade,
those words, as at the time I read,
mean I am here to read again.

Tricks of Memory 2

I look across the landscape
to a house no longer there.
My memory draws pictures,
my eyes see emptiness.

I look into the mirror
at a boy no longer there.
My memory draws promise,
my eyes see just a waste.

I look across the landscape
at a view pristine and clear.
My memory draws blockage,
my eyes see beauty now.

I look into the mirror
at the man who's standing there.
My memory draws promise,
my eyes see realized.

Poems Ó David Agnew 2008

Pictures Ó Maria Bojanowska 2008

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