Dear Wonderful Off-Topicers,
For my final newsletter of the year I thought I’d share my favourite poem with you, which is a celebration of words, home, and gathering together.
Dwelling in Words
Stacked out back in the woodshed
is the dry clutter
of viability liability feasibility
and ach!...potential.Meanwhile up in the attic
beneath warm eaves
wainscot and thatch,
I bundle eiderdown, petticoat,
pillow, candlewick, patchwork quilt.
Easing open the casement
I set them free
to rise up with skylark,
above magpie, nightingale, nuthatch and dove,
across pale meadow, pasture, tilth and furrow,
far beyond milkmaid, cartwheel, and ploughshare
to seashore, all turquoise and azure.Dreaming down the staircase of oak
I ponder on silent drift, blue pool, moonlight milk.
Lingering over smock, apron, bonnet, pinafore,
I brush my cheek against velvet tippet.
The pantry brings pie and piecrust, egg and eggshell,
cupcake and pancake.
With curve of eyelid, quack of duckling, depth of well,
haven of cave,
daily we flip and dip, murmur and freckle
coddle and ladle, dapple and bloom, scoot
and caper to shelter from rain.Then round the hearth at dusk
gather bobbin, lacemaker, ragamuffin,
kindling, kindred, kin.Written by my mum, January 2019
And yes, this poem is written by my lovely mum1, and although I may be too biased to see it, I truly believe that’s actually just the add-on bonus of my love for it. The words just feel so gorgeous and joyful to me2. And after a brief spell lurking in the woodshed with regret (because who doesn’t fester there occasionally), I like that it soars out over the countryside, but ultimately walks around a house and takes on the shape of home. I love that final line so much - the way it celebrates the crackling warmth of a mix of people coming together, and the gradual reduction of words to kin.
Since I first read this poem a few years ago, I’ve kept thinking about a way to represent it in textiles. I made the piece pictured here for my mum’s birthday recently and loved considering each line and how I might place or represent them. As a whole, I think it’s lacking in visual umph and I can see now what I’d do differently, so I may have another go at some point3, but in the meantime, it feels like a good way to illustrate this newsletter.
Finally, however you might be seeing out 2022, I just wanted to say how grateful I am that you’ve chosen to spend a part of this year with me, reading my newsletter. I’ve really loved the conversation that’s come out of it - thank you 💛.
With love and all good wishes, Florence x
Just in case you’re wondering, when I first asked my mum if I could share her poem here, I also asked how she’d prefer for me to credit it. She said she’d like to appear just as my mum, which is why her name has been omitted 💛.
I have a ribbon-bound collection of my mum’s poems and sometimes I read the poems themselves, and other times I go there just to immerse myself in the words; I love the ones my mum chooses. I went through quite an intense phase of gobbling up Elizabeth Gaskell novels this summer and found so many of them in those pages - it was like being placed in a giant mother-themed word search where they kept leaping out at me. I’d always known many of her favourites were slightly archaic, but it was funny to find them all so noticeably laid out there in common usage.
Although as most things I do have a long percolation time, in reality, I may be seeing you here for that in three years’ time ;)
Hello Florence, always such a delight to read your musing - you’re a fabulous writer. Your Mum’s poem is just delightful; I attended a boarding school in Bristol & the boarders wore bonnets & tippets for Founders Day, so your Mum’s use of these words resonated with me. The school was Red Maids’ although I believe it has been renamed following a merger with another school.
Anyway, thank you so much for sharing so much. Your needlework is exquisite & so tiny! Looking forward to more nuggets of wisdom next year.
Merry Christmas to you & yours.
Rebekah x
Thank you for sharing…..it’s a beautiful piece….my favourite is “murmur and freckle”…..that’s EXACTLY what children do!!
Wishing you and your loved ones a festive season filled with love and laughter. Xx