Monday 31 January 2011

A River of Stones

A River of Stones’ was a writing project conceived and curated by Fiona Robyn, a writer & coach, and her fiancé Kaspalita, who is a Buddhist priest. It encouraged people to write a daily small stone - ‘a polished moment of paying proper attention’ - throughout the month of January.

More than 300 people joined in the project and the river shows no sign of abating, as many of the contributors have committed themselves to continue creating small stones for the remainder of the year.

‘Choosing something to write about every day,’ they explained on their , ‘will help you to engage with yourselves, with others, and with the world. It will help you to love everything within and without you a little bit more – the dark and the light, the joyful and the melancholy, the ugly and the beautiful.’

Intrigued and excited, I decided to join the project and submitted one small stone for each day of the month. On certain days they were easy to find, glinting in sunlight on the edge of the riverbank. Yet on other days I struggled to see them, having to plunge my hand deeply into the river and rummage around before I found a stone to lift from the water.

Reflecting back, I realise how little time I was spending just simply ‘being’. It was on those days that I found it difficult to find some space to connect with myself & the world around me.

Now that I’m back in the flow I intend to make space at some point during each day to sit and experience the ‘otherness’ that we fail to recognise when we are busy ‘doing’.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Fiona & Kaspa for creating the project and for inviting me on what has been a most enjoyable & enlightening journey. Namaste.

Here are the small stones that I submitted, one for each day of the month of January:


Saturday 1 January 2011

After the whizz-bang
crackle and spark of midnight
emptiness fills me


Sunday 2 January 2011

Having gathered up the eggs I step outside and see the chickens strutting and pecking. How do you thank them? I scatter extra corn.


Monday 3 January 2011

Waking in darkness / your odour / arouses me / I  brush my lips against / your invisible skin


Tuesday 4 January 2011

Alone in a lift I thought 'what if?' as I dared to imagine dying without you.


Wednesday 5 January 2011

Candleflame / a soft yellow teardrop / swaying / in a mihrab / of shadows


Thursday 6 January 2011

Dung heap / shit and straw / still steaming / the reek of malt / filling my lungs


Friday 7 January 2011

Fire-gazing / licks of orange / blue-green flickers of burning gas / deep inside the flames a cavern / where a dragon hides.


Saturday 8 January 2011

Spontaneously / we dance / the four of us / as Sting sings / Shape of my heart


Sunday 9 January 2011

An amber lamp / glowing / in the coal-black night / so far away / a stranger's place


Monday 10 January 2011

Standing / in pouring rain / echoes of Creation / boom silently / in my tears


Tuesday 11 January 2011

Holding him close / I catch / my foreverness / brimming inside / his cloudless eyes


Wednesday 12 January 2011

Staring / into a violet / cathedral of quartz / intoxicated / by its lustre


Thursday 13 January 2011

Hush (raindrops: splish splosh). Brook purls cantabile over smooth stones (churgle, babble, blooop). My soul squelches like soft moss.


Friday 14 January 2011

Street light / flickers / in amber spasms / i wonder / is it going to die?


Saturday 15 January 2011

In the backwash / of cyber-conversations /a sunbow / dancing / in spindrift


Sunday 16 January 2011

Windows lashed by storms
my galleon dips, rises
in the ocean's swell


Monday 17 January 2011

I gaze up at the firmament / to all the stars and galaxies / I cannot see / and ask myself / why am I writing this?


Tuesday 18 January 2011

Up in the sky / ashes and pearls / smoking and cinerous / stifling / a lemon-drop sun


Wednesday 19 January 2011

A tree: a trilogy

one)    shingles of bark / corky fibres / blue-grey / gilded with silver
two)    sapwood / creamy and smooth / ivory / tinged with amber
three)  huge gnarl / like a troll's eye / staring at me /pitifully


Thursday 20 January 2011

Oh irony of fox-brown feathers / floppy bonnet / bright as bacon / ancient amber eyes / lay me a speckled egg
 http://twitpic.com/3s1x0y

Friday 21 January 2011

Coy moon / streaked with gunsmoke / clouds tinged / with old gold / in a navy sky 


Saturday 22 January 2011

Shavings / beneath a lathe / pine-scented curls / of heartwood / aesthetic casualties


Sunday 23 January 2011

Sighs of contentment
listening to flowing stream
full bladder empties


Monday 24 January 2011

Wind turbines / rising like shock troops / over the wold / spinning /symbols of peace


Tuesday 25 January 2011

Vaulted / altar of trees / blackbird sings / in the silence / of a  rainstop


Wednesday 26 January 2011

Your breath ~ an opaline mist ~ on my ordinary day 


Thursday 27 January 2011

Blue police domes / flash silently / a woman sits / by the roadside / weeping


Friday 28 January 2011

Goldfinch sings / in Rowan tree / its home / a moss cup / hidden in the hedgerow


Saturday 29 January 2011

Stone walls / brooding / splitting green / ancient thresholds / keepers of space


Sunday 30 January 2011

Sheep plucks grass / from wintered fields / inside her body / heartbeats of Spring / ticking softly


Monday 31 January 2011

Dip your hand in the water ~ pull out your golden moment



5 comments:

  1. Oh Peter, the Jan 31 thought is especially wonderful accompanied by that lovely photo above. I think my favorite today (and I say today because I have the feeling given the day and my mood that different one's would resonate at different times) that the description of the three trees fills my mind with ideas. There is a park near my apartment with gnarled and knobby trees. I am convinced they are witches and at night they leap out of the park and make mischief. So your "stone" makes me imagine each tree vibrant with it's own personality quirks. Well done. :)

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  2. Thanks for your lovely comments, Heidi. The tree with the troll's eye stands at the edge of the field in front of our house. It also has a fairy cavern at the base of its trunk (which I hope to photograph if the sun ever decides to shine again).

    Witches? But of course! Witches are renown for becoming trees during the daytime.

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  3. That's such a wonderful idea. I'm going to give it a try during February. Thanks for passing it on.

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  4. You're very welcome Rosalind ... if you don't mind, please give me a shout at the end of February to let me know how you went on.

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  5. Cathedral quartz can also be known as Atlantean Temple Quartz. The name Cathedral quartz comes from the stepped or layered effect, which is also referred to as lightbrary. It is a beautiful Brazilian crystal.

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