Month: October 2019

A Reflection on Yesterday’s Outburst

| Forgotten Fields
Blue Cranes and Merino Sheep. Loop filmed on 8 February 2019 at the height of the South African summer (December to February).1

My poems are, in essence, refined emotional responses to agrarian life. (Though not a farmer, I grew up surrounded by farms in the Overberg—an agricultural region in the Western Cape Province of South Africa—to which I feel a profound, near spiritual connection.)

They invariably begin as rough vers libre reflections, poetic sketches which I gradually shape into traditional lyric stanzas; an outburst like “An Exaltation” could easily be an example of how my poems begin—indeed, its title was taken from an abandoned sketch.

My verses are idylls, pastorals in the Romantic style, recreations of simple encounters in the countryside: a rarely-seen creature suddenly before you (“A Rhebok!”), a blanket of fog on the cliffs (“Mist on the Mountain”), a flitting passerine on the wing (“To a Swallow”).

The sketch I am developing now—“Cranes and Sheep”—is a joyful recollection of a familiar sight here one glorious December afternoon in 2017 (summer in South Africa) when the Blue Cranes were truly the hue of the sky and the Merino Sheep that of the field!

  1. The quality is low as they were at a distance; I had to use maximum zoom on the iPhone.

An Exaltation

| Forgotten Fields
A Flock on the Foothills, 18 October 2019. Copyright 2018 Forgotten Fields. All rights reserved.
To my left, a flock on the foothills.
When I survey pastoral scenes such as these, I wish that I could outstretch my arms and embrace them! In my desperation, I do so with words—fumbling lines that do none of it justice. If I could write poetry so sweet, verses so simple—silences so sustaining!
Sheep on a Hill, 18 October 2019. Copyright 2018 Forgotten Fields. All rights reserved.
To my right, a flock on an eminence.

Photographs taken 18 October 2019.

From Fog to Feather and Flock

| Forgotten Fields
Cranes on a Hill, 16 March 2018. Copyright 2018 Forgotten Fields. All rights reserved.
A herd of Blue (or Paradise) Cranes (Grus paradisea) on a hilltop. Taken mid-March in 2018 (early autumn in South Africa).

I hereby officially declare “Mist on the Mountain” complete and begin work on the “Dust and Blue” poetic sketch. I have conceived of a few new working titles for it—amongst others, “Feathers and Fleece”, “Cranes and Sheep” and “Herds” (a term of venery for both)—as “Dust and Blue” feels cryptic, and the other initial working titles are merely variations on that theme (for example, “Gold and Blue”).

Though “Herds” is tempting, it does not capture the theme of the poetic sketch—a pity, it is rather smart. I shall, therefore, use the unaffected “Cranes and Sheep” in the meantime—ever partial in poetry to straightforwardness—and have updated the progress list accordingly. On the list, I have also removed “I” from the “The Batis I” title (since “The Batis II” is now redundant) and altered it to “A Batis”.

Poetry Publication Progress (2019-10-19)