In her story Psychology (1920), Katherine Mansfield explores the multiple tensions between our public and private selves.

Hiding wisdom in plain sight

I don’t know when I first encountered the work of David Jones (1895 –1974), but his distinctive calligraphy has been a backdrop in my life for a long time.

I recently came across this drawing which records birdsong as a kind of cardiogram. I made it some time ago on a writing course deep in Sussex woodland with Tiffany Brett, and it got me thinking about the ways in which birdsong shapes our day…

Advent considers, amongst other things, how significant encounters begin - how they arrive, and arise, in the first place, and what we can, and can’t yet see, but might intuit, in those early formative moments.

Following on from musings about vegetables I’ve been thinking about fruit, and seeds, and also Macbeth….

There is something about squash that defies time. They keep extraordinarily well without any refrigeration, and, cooked slowly, yield up the sweet, full flavour of autumn as well as anything. Perhaps that’s why Padraig Regan in his poem Notes on Various Squashes says, Yes, I realise there’s more to life than perfectly describing the perfect squash, but I can’t imagine what that might be…

Now that the museums are opening again, I’ve been teaching young writers at Tate Britain, and it’s good, if somewhat strange, to be back. In the gallery we’ve been counting wildflowers, and thinking about, amongst other things, how many shades of green there are in John Everett Millais’ painting of Ophelia,