Author Archives: Anathema
Tribute
Sometimes there are things you want to say that seem bigger than words, and these are the times when I turn to poetry instead of prose. So, I have a timely tribute to a man I loved more than life itself, the like of whose courage and dignity I have never seen. All hail the … Continue reading
A Time for Full Throttle
Just throttle back, they said. Just be yourself but less so, one advised. Stop dreaming. Only fools dream. Stop standing out. Stop being different. It’s just so weird, why would you want to do that? Why can’t you just be like everyone else? Why? Because that’s who I am. I listened to all of … Continue reading
Where’s the ART?
I didn’t realise how the art had disappeared from my life until I was faced with it’s reappearance. It stood on my doorstep three days ago looking dishevelled and hopeful and asked to come in. Art has aquamarine eyes. Did you know? Where have you been? Did I tell you to go? I didn’t mean … Continue reading
Alchemy is the Sculptor’s Art
It follows on the coat-tails of courage, the gentle unfurling of life as you open yourself to hope and possibility. To know of the possibilities of hurt, and to stand alone and proud and say This is me, I have some broken places, and I’m scared and I don’t know how to do this but … Continue reading
Somewhere In Between
Because sometimes you just want to throw a few things in a car and head off into the unknown, with the stereo on loud and no idea where you’re going. Because those times when you do, you become completely free, unfettered by expectations or image. Because sometimes this is the only time when none of … Continue reading
Because Life Doesn’t Wait For You
Life doesn’t wait for you. It doesn’t seek you out and tell you about all the amazing things that COULD happen to you. It just HAPPENS and you’re either there in the moment, or you’re not. Life happens to you when you’re out there doing and being and feeling. When you go out and be … Continue reading
The whole bloody world is crowded with absences
That sentence was all it took for me to be drawn in and enthralled by The Last Magician by Janette Turner Hospital.It didn’t just resonate with me, but near as dammit pulled my still-beating heart from my chest, shook it and said THIS, this is what you know. Read it, hold it, cherish it and … Continue reading
My Celluloid Romance
(No, not like that.) I was sitting in a pub a few nights ago, chatting with a friend of mine about all manner of things, moving away, spreading your wings and living a bigger life, heading for exciting times. It’s her time for that, and I’m happy for her, excited and at the same time … Continue reading
I do not want to be lost in love with you
I saw a sign the other day that said ‘I want to be lost in love with you‘. No. Already I am already blessed and cursed with being entwined in the hearts of many. Too easily can I lose myself in another without a second’s conscious thought. No, I do not want to be lost … Continue reading
Of truth and beauty
But I, being, poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams. William Butler Yeats He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
Of a Northern Disposition
Once upon a time in this life, I lived in the North. At first I hated it. It was big and brash and bold and was the opposite of everything I’d known, but I grew to love it. Its openness, its wildness, the people who opened their hearts before their mouths, and rarely let me … Continue reading
To Adventure, Excitement and EXTRAORDINARY dreams
Here’s to 2011, a year of adventure, excitement and fulfilment of some extraordinary dreams. If 2010 was a year of losing myself, then 2011 is to be a year of finding myself again. 2010 was supposed to be a year of relaxation. A year of kicking back and giving myself time to recharge but things … Continue reading
In which I would like to hibernate
It would be fair to say that I am not a winter person. Not in the slightest, tiniest bit. I don’t like snow, I loathe the continual leaden skies and feeling of overwhelming misery and heaviness that comes with it, and I dislike having to put on nearly my entire wardrobe before beginning to feel … Continue reading
Be Magnificent
‘I love you‘. This is how he ends the email to me and the truth is blindingly clear: I love him ridiculously … RIDICULOUSLY. Yes, quite so. He is my friend, my inspiration and the man who holds my soul in the palm of his hand. I love him in a way that stands apart … Continue reading
A life not for the faint-hearted
An open missive to those of narrow mind and faint heart: What did you hope to achieve in your determination to define? Did you hope to cut me down into smaller and smaller pieces until I was small enough not be a threat, so that you could label the microscopic pieces of me and examine … Continue reading
What’s your wordjoy?
I’ve been having numerous twitter, facebook and real-life conversations recently, centering around words that you love to hear and read. I have lists of words I love, and lists of words that make me shudder. It’s not necessarily the meanings or the associations but sometimes just for the sounds or the shapes your mouth makes … Continue reading
Friendships on the road less travelled
I have a very unusual friend, and with him I discovered one of the most unusual and joyful friendships I have. It totally transcends boundaries, when it’s not busy ripping them the hell apart and it fills me with inspiration and pleasure. We’ve known each other for years. We’ve grown through some of our most … Continue reading
In which I meet new people… and they challenge me
It’s been an unusual week. The sort of week that has consistently surprised me and turned my expectations on their respective heads. It has, basically, been rather brilliant. People have surprised me with business propositions, personal propositions and made unexpected selfless offers for no reason that I can comprehend but for which I am grateful. … Continue reading
Knowing where you’re going is half the battle to getting there
Have you ever found yourself doing something you don’t want to do, being less than you really are just to keep the peace, and feel so worn out and so lost that you’ve almost lost the sense of who you are and the energy it takes to turn around and find your way? Well that’s … Continue reading