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poliphilo The light is thicker, heavier, golden, the wild grass is seeding, the lawns are turning sere (grand word "sere", we need to keep it in circulation) the poppies are nearly done and we just harvested our first bulb of garlic. There's a melancholy about midsummer. From now on the days get shorter, the vegetation wearier. Sidney Keyes called a book of his "The Cruel Solstice"- and though I've never been sure which one he meant (because midwinter has its cruelties too) I lean towards Midsummer....
Midsummer is bright with darkness at its heart and Midwinter is dark with brightness at its heart. Picture the Yin-Yang symbol. That's why, from the furthest antiquity, it's at Midwinter that people have partied the hardest....
Alice chose the solstice to launch her new book. She did it on Zoom and I was there, in the virtual room. Clover, who is eight, was visible behind her mother's shoulder as a dark blur. When the hour was up, she emerged into focus and nuzzled Alice's shoulder. Better than an alarm clock. "Bye, Grandpa," she said- and I, having been been muted, texted her back....
Alice's book is called Soulful Pregnancy. I haven't read it yet so I can't tell you much more. She read us a paragraph about grandmothers, and we all texted her about ours. My grandmother- Alice's great granny-, I wrote, was a woodcarver, a painter and bred dogs. That's my maternal grandmother. My other grandmother was a lovely, kind person and quite a character- but I favour the maternal line because that's where the Quakers and artists are.....
Midsummer is bright with darkness at its heart and Midwinter is dark with brightness at its heart. Picture the Yin-Yang symbol. That's why, from the furthest antiquity, it's at Midwinter that people have partied the hardest....
Alice chose the solstice to launch her new book. She did it on Zoom and I was there, in the virtual room. Clover, who is eight, was visible behind her mother's shoulder as a dark blur. When the hour was up, she emerged into focus and nuzzled Alice's shoulder. Better than an alarm clock. "Bye, Grandpa," she said- and I, having been been muted, texted her back....
Alice's book is called Soulful Pregnancy. I haven't read it yet so I can't tell you much more. She read us a paragraph about grandmothers, and we all texted her about ours. My grandmother- Alice's great granny-, I wrote, was a woodcarver, a painter and bred dogs. That's my maternal grandmother. My other grandmother was a lovely, kind person and quite a character- but I favour the maternal line because that's where the Quakers and artists are.....
