Day: May 17, 2026

Autumn weather geese fly by

(however good or bad my poetry has been or is now it has been a marvelous experience writing it.)

Autumn’s coming,geese fly by,
Autumn,rust,red,gold,so gay
Drystone walls edging fields.
Apples gathered,holly berries
Flash so brightly,look like flowers
Sun shines sideways,shadows long
Of trees appear.I dwell among
Woods where gentle beeches sing
Swaying with the sideward wind


See their roots, all intertwined.
Feel their geometry in your mind.
Look up now into the sky,
See the V formation high.

Geese fly home at end of day.


My heart is moved by patterned dance
In this peace and great silence
My mind widens like the sky
And in this moment I would die,
So I could stay with this still vision
Of geese set out on autumn mission.


Snails in rain pools slither near
My feet upon the terrace here
Yet how swiftly life’s destroyed
When blind foot steps into the void.

Relaxing breath


You may not believe me that it’s so simple, but we as are both body and mind, this breathing exercise has been very helpful to me when I’m struggling to cope with pain and life and need to feel better.Don’t give up as it needs time to learn but it can transform the way you feel.The only other thing that helps me is total acceptance…again not easy to achieve but it is possible.
If you can’t accept your pain,you can achieve an attitude of being WILLING to accept it.Orr even of being willing to be willing.But you have to really mean it!
And then take a look outside yourself if you can.Even in winter there are clouds and sun and wind on trees.And birds to feed.It’s a wonderful world
1 september and late August 2011 075
The 4-7-8 (or Relaxing Breath) Exercise
This exercise is utterly simple, takes almost no time, requires no equipment and can be done anywhere. Although you can do the exercise in any position, sit with your back straight while learning the exercise. Place the tip of your tongue against the ridge of tissue just behind your upper front teeth, and keep it there through the entire exercise. You will be exhaling through your mouth around your tongue; try pursing your lips slightly if this seems awkward.
Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound.
Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four.
Hold your breath for a count of seven.
Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of eight.
This is one breath. Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four breaths.
Note that you always inhale quietly through your nose and exhale audibly through your mouth. The tip of your tongue stays in position the whole time. Exhalation takes twice as long as inhalation. The absolute time you spend on each phase is not important; the ratio of 4:7:8 is important. If you have trouble holding your breath, speed the exercise up but keep to the ratio of 4:7:8 for the three phases. With practice you can slow it all down and get used to inhaling and exhaling more and more deeply.
This exercise is a natural tranquilizer for the nervous system. Unlike tranquilizing drugs, which are often effective when you first take them but then lose their power over time, this exercise is subtle when you first try it but gains in power with repetition and practice. Do it at least twice a day. You cannot do it too frequently. Do not do more than four breaths at one time for the first month of practice. Later, if you wish, you can extend it to eight breaths. If you feel a little lightheaded when you first breathe this way, do not be concerned; it will pass.
Once you develop this technique by practicing it every day, it will be a very useful tool that you will always have with you. Use it whenever anything upsetting happens – before you react. Use it whenever you are aware of internal tension. Use it to help you fall asleep. This exercise cannot be recommended too highly. Everyone can benefit from

Like frozen sheep

Clouds like frozen sheep pass by in layers

Like ships upon an ocean in the sky

They move from South to North upon the wind

There is no coral and no father’s eye.

Fish float in the deeps but not in flocks

There are no humans in the lower realms

There are  no law courts, prisons no police.

No ships sail in the deep, no guns no helm

I swallowed 50 cameras yesterday

We are never free from doctors wills

Now my ribs hurt where they took the flesh

All in all its surgery or pills.

Now the sheep that float have shrunk have gone.

I meant to count them now I can’t see one

Writing makes me breathe differently

Sometimes writing makes me breathe differently.
I can feel the silence settle around me,
Like a prayer shawl.
i accept it gratefully.
There’s a thin feeling to the day
As if the sun might have tried harder
to come through
But it had a blue feeling
And the clouds were greedy,
Wanting too much to melt
And shed their moisture.
Some perfume please.I think it was £27.99
Yes,I like that one even more than jasmine oil.
Pour it down over London
Like a blessing.
A black woman laughed and patted my arm,
You’re so funny, she cried.
And I smiled coyly
As if someone hidden was taking my photograph.
Sometimes life’s too sweet
And needs a little pepper.
The chair creaks as I lean forward
Trying to see everything at once
As if it all happened now, not yesterday.

Daddy doesn’t smoke here any more

photo big specs

I am writing my autobiography.So far I’ve written just the titles of the volumes and that took me three days:

Daddy doesn’t smoke here any more.[ Early  to mid childhood]

My family and other criminals [Sibling rivalry]

Nuns are not a  jot of  fun  [School days]

Scholarship and yearnings [Hire Education]

Insane but true  [My love life]

The heart has its treasons.[My adult life]

Under the haystack. [How I became a gypsy]

Am I too cold for you ? [Age and its mysteries]

How I double crossed the quiver [ Almost dead but still very trying]

Black eyed floosie   [My medical history ]

I saw that life as we know it is just a film  but we are too close to spy the hand that turns the roller  [Nearer to death and seeing the clouds from above]

B-Sides: Marion Milner’s “A Life of One’s Own”

https://www.publicbooks.org/b-sides-marion-milners-a-life-of-ones-own/

A Life offers unprecedentedly direct access to the mind and feelings of an early 20th-century educated working woman. Marion Blackett was 26 when she began the research for the book, in 1926, and 34 when she published it, under the pseudonym Joanna Field. She had completed a degree in psychology and physiology, in 1923, and soon after started working for the National Institute of Industrial Psychology, headed by Charles Samuel Myers, collecting data from various factories and industrial workplaces across England. The winter of 1927–28 was spent in the United States on a Rockefeller scholarship, attending Elton Mayo’s seminars at Harvard Business School.

She had married Dennis Milner just before leaving for the States; their son, John, was born in 1932. Dennis’s chronic illness meant that Marion had to return immediately to work: she taught psychology to the Workers’ Educational Association in the East End of London, and also undertook research for the Girls’ Public Day School Trust (published in 1938 as The Human Problem in Schools). She would eventually begin training with the British psychoanalysis group