Monday Musing

Morning Pogue, And a cold one it is🥶. But the sky’s clear and there is a stillness in the air which is welcoming. So much we get for free, everyday, that I’m sure goes unnoticed. And here’s my musing which arose from a walk I took in the woods yesterday. I am blessed in so … Continue reading Monday Musing

Why Are We Not Better Than We Are?

Dear Pogue, Tell me, why are we not better than we are? Why are we not better people? Why are so many lives marked by pain, worry and depression. Why do we sit on the edge of an ecological disaster which we have no overwhelming collective desire to avert? Why do we wake each morning … Continue reading Why Are We Not Better Than We Are?

My Dreams Are Strong

My dreams are strongBoth day and night,In this reality I am feared,Even revered,Held in trembling respect,For I walk in placesOthers fear to go.With an elegant madness in my eyesI plunder the depthsBeyond death mysterious veil,Mordors fires,Valhalla’s glory,Nivarna’s bliss.What you prophesied as heavenWhat you call hell,Nothing is denied to the dreams I have.I tell you, you … Continue reading My Dreams Are Strong

Monday Musing

Hi Pogue, Another flight, another airport lounge. Stockholm today and I have an hour before boarding and home. It will be nice to be home. But Stockholm’s been a blast so a good trip despite the well below 0C temperatures (we hit -18C in Helsinki allowing for the windchill factor and that’s painful!). Here in … Continue reading Monday Musing

My Pocket

There’s a poet in my pocketI think she’s rather quaint,She smiles like an angelAnd makes me feel a saint.She’s lending me her best linesThoughts deeper than I’ve known,Compelling me to write themUntil I’ve composed a poem.She’s not bothered about a creditIt really would be a bind,To have to wait to be acknowledgedMaybe getting left behind.For … Continue reading My Pocket

Beautiful Mind

Her’s was a beautiful mindA place where the spring flowers growWhere autumnal leaves aboundAnd colours are awashYet as only nature canAll was held in harmonyShe had a beautiful mindGentle but self assuredQuietly constant without doubtLike the beach when only small waves lapFilled with purposeUndeterredAnd on days when the wind blewHer hair breaking looseThe waves would … Continue reading Beautiful Mind

Monday Musing

Hi Pogue, So here I am and I’m still thinking about ‘weird’, your ‘weird’, my ‘weird’ and looking around and about for other people who have found their’s together with the determination and freedom to give it expression. To that end I spotted an account in a book I’m currently reading, A Moveable Feast, Ernest … Continue reading Monday Musing

Be Your Weird

YOU ARE NOT EVERYONE'S CUP OF TEAThe world is filled with people who, no matterwhat vou do, no matter what you try, will simplynot like you. But the world is also filled with thosewho will love you fiercely. The ones who love you:they are Your People. Don't waste your finite time and heart trying toconvince … Continue reading Be Your Weird

Monday Musing.

Well Pogue, We’ve spent two Musings thinking about the fact that we all have unique qualities and characteristics that make us different. Our weirdness. These things set us aside from others and make life more interesting. At least I think so. They also give us a new sense of freedom once we have learnt to … Continue reading Monday Musing.

Monday Musing

Hi Pogue, Remember last Monday we talked about embracing your weird? Well today I’ve been listening to the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, on the TV, five days before his first budget statement. And it was refreshing to listen to him because he told it as it is. We’ve some hard times ahead as a country and … Continue reading Monday Musing

Monday Musing

Dear Pogue, I came across a quote from Sylvia’s Plath yesterday where she said she had learnt “to embrace her own weirdness”. It sort of struck me that in doing so she found her own creative genius and whilst her life was a troubled one, she left us with a legacy of great poetry. Her … Continue reading Monday Musing

Monday Musings

Dear Pogue, Do you ever read something and ask yourself: “How does that woman think?” or “What’s gone on in his life that he can write that?” I find myself doing it more and more these days. In fact instead of considering that I’m increasing my knowledge I continually find myself realising how small my … Continue reading Monday Musings

The Old School Field

The children still play in the old school field.The trees stand in the same places,Shed leaves in the same season,Look bare in winter like before,They’re just bigger than on that dayWhen you and I climbed so highHid in their branches And were possessed by make believe.I was happy then.The crime was that I did not … Continue reading The Old School Field

Monday Musing

Dear Pogue, I wrote to you in the week about the creative process and suggested that inspiration came from outside rather than within. I questioned whether we had lost our way and turned to our own very limited ability to find creative impulse. So thinking about this and practicing the thought to test its veracity … Continue reading Monday Musing

Creative Inspiration

Pogue, The creative process can be a tortured thing at times. One day, there you are just breezing along, everything is flowing, all cylinders seem to be firing, inspiration is a warm breeze blowing from the south and all is well with the world. You just create because you can do nothing else. Then something … Continue reading Creative Inspiration

Monday Musing

So Pogue. I know a lady who has passed into and out of my life over a number of years. It’s a pleasure to see her when she appears again but, I’m afraid to say, it’s normally a relief when she leaves. And the reason? Well, as long as I have known she has been … Continue reading Monday Musing

Your Word

Your word is the core of your relationships. Given and kept it is a strong chain holding you to others, removing concerns and creating a foundation on which to build bigger things. If you would but realise, your word has great value and will go before you in the world giving you a reputation acceptable … Continue reading Your Word

The Moment

I didn’t understand a word you saidBut I really liked the way you said itYou purred Eyes flashing and dancing with intrigueAnd that smile like fresh poured honeyMade the words so incidentalYou didn’t need then any more I’m not sure quite what you did”What just happened” was all I thoughtI couldn’t comprehendCouldn’t collect my thoughtsHad … Continue reading The Moment

Monday Musing

Dear Pogue, Apparently my writing of late has had a dark shade to it. It has held overtones of grief, particularly my poems, and has been a cause for minor concern, or so others tell me. And all such comments have been marked with a tinge of curious concern as is befitting for those who … Continue reading Monday Musing

God In The Rain Without An Umbrella

Pirouetting and shimmying God moved through the rainWith a smile and a small laughAnd a sound like delight“I made this, I made thisIt’s was all down to me.It soaks to the skinI’m so full of joy”There’s an experience to be hadFor those who dance in the rainWho realise the blessingGet soaked to the skinForsake their … Continue reading God In The Rain Without An Umbrella

Monday Musing

Pogue, So here’s a thing. I came across somebody this week, a lady, who trains hard. She lifts weights and doing one particular lift she was using 60kgs as her max. But this week she became impassioned, in the zone, and pushed through 60kgs and kept going until she maxed out at 100kgs (too a … Continue reading Monday Musing

Monday Musing.

Morning Pogue, Sometimes life will take an unexpected or unwanted turn and things aren’t so good. We didn’t want this but there it is right in the middle of our world. We have no plans for dealing with it but know that it can’t stay like this, not if life is to have the qualities … Continue reading Monday Musing.

Law 1.One

Dear Pogue, I have spent much time with things spiritual and during that time I have come to recognise certain constants in the world. They are not things that people usually consider or even realise exist. I thought I’d like to share with you the things I have found over a series of short letters … Continue reading Law 1.One

Monday Musing

Morning Pogue, Here’s a thing. Your teachers will come in all shapes and sizes. You’ll find them in books, in music, in actual teachers, in moments of inspiration… The Universe can reach out to you in so many ways and is only limited by your imagination. And you, you have to spot the teaching and … Continue reading Monday Musing

Broaden Your Perspective.

Just a few thoughts to add to yesterdays letter: Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.Mark Twain I don’t know … Continue reading Broaden Your Perspective.

Monday Musing

Hello Pogue, I woke this morning in the land of fire and ice, Iceland. I’m on another road trip, visiting a place I haven’t been before, quenching the curiosity that drives me to travel. My initial impressions? It’s a land of rugged beauty with snow still on the hills here in their summer, steam found … Continue reading Monday Musing

Imperfect Or Free?

Pogue, I think we are now agreed that imperfection is a form of freedom, freedom from the pressure to become something that we are not. Freedom from the pressure to modify our lives in an attempt to achieve a goal that has often been put on us by others. What is perfection anyway? Perfection is … Continue reading Imperfect Or Free?

Appreciate The Small Things

Pogue, Thought I’d drop you another postcard to kick start your day along with your first coffee. Always coffee in the morning! People who know me are so glad there's coffee in the world. What I say before coffee should really be ignored! Have I introduced you to my friend Polie? He’s full of wisdom. … Continue reading Appreciate The Small Things

Small Things

Dear Pogue, Do you ever struggle to find joy in life? I know I do on occasions and the last week or so it’s been particularly hard, what with having Covid and all. Inspiration has certainly been in short measure. But the thing is, and it is only as I sit here and search for … Continue reading Small Things