French cat space suits!

Soviet Le Petit Prince

Second New Year

Second New Year fell around us
mixing mist and swarms of crows
whilst the sky ate half the communications tower
putting out its disco light flames
in a hovering puddle of fog
my heels sunk in mud
from misplaced cobbles
and we ate sweets and swirled
sparklers through the empty streets

Thank you Makaka and Super-Teo for a lovely girly gothic evening...

Sinking Sololaki...

Cabin fever and no scrap paper...

Second Christmas...

These photos led to my favourite quote of this trip so far: "Aliiisa - what are you doing? You cannot enter church waving such Gandalf stick!" Ha ha ha...

New decade, new poem - happy new year from Tbilisi...

Run away she said
I felt her in my head
Don’t stop
Keep going
He will never understand

He has dinner with his father and
You will never be invited

But I want a balcony!
And a big family!
To forget my vast city
Of dirt and things
That work right…

But she twisted round
And laughed some
That this was not for me
I would keep going
Till I fell down and
Could not get back up again

(this is quite easy
on wet cobbles
with stupid shoes
as high as the floating city)

She tickled my brain with her fingernails
Scratched softly so
It hurt me more
Than a deeper wound

I will show you!
I want this!
Oh how I want this…
I am supposed to be
At home
Still and this far away

She blew around my head
In dangerous breezes
Till I hit it with my hands
Screwed up my nose
To sneeze her out
I did not want anyone to know me here
And she was too close

(this looks a little strange
to bystanders
who stared at my wrong colour
eyes and hair – be careful)

I would know where I was going
We would sit and eat fluffy flat bread
Drink sweet wine
And kiss when his friends weren’t looking
This would make him very happy
And I would never need to
Leave again

Cars stop blurring!
Slow down!
Hold back on horns!
It is okay – I’m here to stay!
Look I am smiling
Though the wind is strong
And full of battles…

He fought me that one time
Held me down so
My bruises were the shape
Of concrete edges
An architectural diagram
Of where he’d been

(don’t worry
they did not hurt
an almost gentle accident
smeared up my too pale skin)

They blended with the stripy tan marks
That made him smile
The sun has marked you too
She laughed
It cares no more than he does!
Run away, she said…

Yes I will not stop!
Carry me beyond these fallen buildings!
Lift my skirts
Till like a balloon of hot air
Mysteries
I will float away

(I wrapped up warm
and bit my fingers till they bled
a nervous preparation)

I thought he would not forget me this way
Knelt on damp cobbles and
Prayed for stone springs
To launch me
Into the grey sky
That only recently was exploding
With stars shot from guns
And children laughing whispers
Of hope

The Cherry Tree Carol

My favourite Christmas song...

Cut out fairy tales

I've become obsessed with Lotte Reiniger - it was bound to happen sooner or later...

And here's a little documentary

And dinosaur clouds

Church of nature past...

Imaginary Greenhouses

I recently got back from a week running poetry workshops on the Yorkshire Dales by the beautiful Grimwith reservoir. Possibly more to come from that... but my favourite discovery of the week was the remains of the gardens of Oakworth House. The house belonged to Sir Isaac Holden and no longer stands (see drawing for how it once was) - it even had its own Turkish bath house - but the gardens still stand in some way. But what really amazed me was the tale of how these gardens once stood under a giant glass dome. I love old greenhouses - there's something extraordinary about old glass - how it seems so thin and battered yet strong - how each mark seems to hold a piece of the history of what was seen through it... In this case the dome seems to have been purely for show - in a way to contain this mythical world he wanted to create - to protect his extravagant dreams from the prying eyes of reality. Today you can still wander around a maze of forgotten interconnected grottos and high stone walkways going back to nature and thankfully left unscathed by beastly health and safety. Local kids apparently climb in at night and live their secret disapproved of lives hanging around the slippery mossy rocks. I like the idea that it comes alive then - that this place is somehow still secret - that you need to know an unspoken code to unlock its stories. I would love to do a project there and hopefully I will one day... I will try and get hold of some photos of this modern forgotten dreamscape... But till then, here's to English eccentrics and dreaming of your own world...

Hamlet Gonashvili

Hausu Halloween

Beware of lampshades and kittens this evening...

Strange buildings of Tbilisi

I've never quite figured out what the second building was built for, though it's one of my favourite examples of buildings that look like they could be from a 60s sci-fi film. The first building was where everyone got married during Soviet times - Christian culture was so imbedded in Georgia that they built somewhere that looked like a modern cathedral for the civil ceremonies.

Camping near Chechnya

Shatili in Khevsureti near the Chechen border is really one of the most strangely beautiful places I have ever been... And it really was on the border - I fell asleep and woke with a very comic stripy tan and a confused border guard staring down at me!

Tbilisi, party...

Green eyes flicker
like forests too
deep beneath black
hair confuses me.

House swaying and
City (so bright!) in
shudders of light - a
patchwork of disco-floors
and bright beetles
Too still! (he stared)
through youth
music too old to not be
loaded with implications
(wrong!) for now.

A small dog
scattered across the floor.

Green eyes
I wanted (wrong!)
This city I wanted too… Collect
balconies crumbled in
my pocket, a body
to smash them
to pieces where I lay
(Green eyes) I wanted…
(Breathe) through
falling stars the
grape vines dropped
shadows over echoes
I stood in

Vodka bottles
(half empty) leaving
guitars half strung for
green eyes (wrong!)
An empty home.

There's trouble in Dogville

Miniature books of the world...

...African proverbs

Places I want to visit - Pamukkale water terraces, Turkey

Birdie went a courting

I'd forgotten about this well known clip from Mr Attenborough. Male birds of paradise trying to impress the ladies... The last one is possibly the best bird I have ever seen. Although bowerbirds have the best decorating habits (and build dens which is always a good thing) - they're going to be on a new series this autumn!

I also rather like lyre birds...

When Georgian folk dance came to Korea

SHOW OFFS!

The Mystery of Marriage

Best and most English sex education film EVER from 1932 - how incest is best avoided in favour of a cousinly embrace as demonstrated by mould anyone?

Love on the wing

This little gem of an animation was made for and then banned by the Post Office in 1938 - I like the idea that the letter physically changes into the stories it holds... I miss proper post!

I <3 Decorator Crabs

They dress themselves up in seaweed! I also think there is a type of beetle that does something similar, but with things that make it look more bejeweled, but I beastly can't remember what it's called...

Waltz of Circassian Beauties

William appears to have made a Paper Hats video. It's really rather lovely in a Nashville version of Oliver Postgate kind of way...