Musings
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Madeleine L’Engle on fantasy and the open mind
‘Children respond to anything a writer asks of them-as long as there isn’t any wax [i.e. inauthenticity] around. It’s often possible to make demands of a child that couldn’t be made of an adult. Sometimes the very acquisition of knowledge (something quite different from wisdom) can hold us back. For instance, in some of the… Continue reading
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The Seafarer
The Seafarer is a poem from the Exeter Book, a 10th century codex of Old English which sprang from a project of monastic reform and restabilisation following a long period Viking attacks and the subsequent disrepair of Christian places and their spiritual practices. The poem is mostly secular with a religious addition, possibly added later,… Continue reading
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The Ick according to Mumsnet
by anonymous contributors in this thread. The end bit on a tomato. The word ‘sip’. The word ‘entrepreneur.’ People starting a new paragraph for every sentence, like they’re writing a poem. Disney adults. The word ‘panties’. Hairdressers who handle your hair in a feeble way. Gen Z influencers who live alone and post reels about… Continue reading
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2025: a tasty mast year
“Berries have come early to the rowans of Edinburgh this year. A few trees have already shed or partly-shed their leaves following August’s drought, making it easy to spot the blackbirds and thrushes bobbing up and down atop heavy bunches of bright red fruit.” This is a remark I made on a dormant Substack in… Continue reading
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The joy of collecting: on tangible emotions
It started, as many things do, with a coin. That first coin wasn’t even currency; it was a coin-shaped token thanking me for my participation in a Terry Fox Run at age thirteen or so. I don’t remember where the others came from, but they trickled in, qian by penny by cent, and I stuck them round… Continue reading
Jane Alyson Clarke 