microscopic muses

‘ Fado ‘  ~ Briar Wood He always loved the sea so much more than me you could envisage a remoteness In his mao mao eyes Nipples like radiate limpets and sandpaper hand shake. Born under the sign of Pisces, he was perpetually drawn towards large bodies of water. Bold as the break on a West Coast  beach. Swept off cold feet swimming in neritic  zones, Anemone tentacle kisses, clung like a succubus. Chiton armour tight. Nobody found out the discarded garments or how he drowned. I only know when I open my mouth bubbles stutter out. photo: SarahA  O’Leary

To spend sustained time with Lawrence is to argue with him.’ Photograph: Alamy DH Lawrence Up close and dangerous: the irresistible allure of DH Lawrence For decades he was wildly out of fashion, now DH Lawrence is everywhere – from novels and biographies to a new adaptation of Lady Chatterley’s Lover Lara Feigel Mon 30 Aug 2021 04.00 EDT When the clock struck for lockdown last March, many of us found ourselves condemned to live alongside people in more intense proximity than we’d bargained for. Flatmates, spouses, children were no longer occasional companions but a constant presence. For me, this has been the case with DH Lawrence. Having committed to writing a book on him, suddenly I found myself sequestered with him. There was a time when this would have felt sexually charged. In my 20s, I fell for his vision of bodily life, as so many of his female readers had done. “His intuitive intelligence sought the core of woman,” Anaïs Nin wrote after his death. Visiting the shrine at Lawren...

  News Opinion Sport Culture Lifestyle Show caption Poetry Poetry book of the month: Lyonesse by Penelope Shuttle – review Combining two collections in one, the veteran poet immerses us in a mythical kingdom in this extraordinary flow of work Kate Kellaway Tue 6 Jul 2021 04.00 EDT Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email There is always the risk of overlooking an established poet as a known quantity. And it is therefore especially pleasing to be able to hail Penelope Shuttle for her 13th collection,  Lyonesse . At 74, she has produced a singular, arresting and moving book in which her talent, far from seeming familiar or faded, is underpinned by the accumulated wisdom of decades. The book contains two collections in one, hinged by a theme of loss. Lyonesse is Cornwall’s mythical kingdom – its Paradise Lost. It was Thomas Hardy’s name for the county, but is also said to have been a real piece of west Cornwall lost in the bronze age – swept under the sea. It is this ki...