All this light!
Dispatch from Writing with the Seasons - June 2024
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This whole week is filled with light. Bright mornings, long days and, of course, the summer solstice, when the sun stands still in its movement along the horizon.
After months of grey skies, I’ve wanted to savour every day of warmth, colour and light, not just concentrating on a single sunset, sunrise or moment. What if we marked midsummer by creating space for all the activities we don't always have time to do: reading, writing, slowly sipping coffee, lighting a candle or walking amongst the trees?
That was my intention this year. So, on solstice eve, I was so happy to be in the London Library, listening to poetry, talking with friends, dancing to music. A set of brilliant poets stood on an elegant gallery overlooking booklined walls and a beautiful view across St James’s Square. Each poet performed, then the DJ filled the room with two of their favourite songs, from klezmer to disco. Glorious!
Today, like most days this week, we have 16 hours, 38 minutes and 22 seconds of light. This evening, there’s a major lunar standstill (21 June, 9.30pm), with the moon at the furthest point along the horizon. And tomorrow brings a Strawberry Full Moon (22 June, 2.08am) to light the midsummer night. So much activity in the sky! All this light!
In our Write & Shine workshop this morning, I offered a sunlit writing prompt that I’d love to share with you all now.
Writing prompt: Jen Hadfield’s poetry collection Almanacs is filled with landscapes and light, the sun and moon, tarot and folklore. ‘The Fool - Skye’ includes these lines:
May the light land
every day differently on your bird-tableI find the prayer-like tone mixed with ordinary domestic life so intriguing, hopeful and strange. Light on the bird-table shows us one way of marking time. For our writing prompt, we’ll echo that idea. Take at least 5 minutes for each part.
Write about the light this morning. Where does it fall in the room—how does it land on objects, what does it illuminate? How does it look outside—what seems bright, what’s in shadow? When have you ever seen light like this before? What does it remind you of?
Now, review your notes and select a few phrases you find intriguing. Read them aloud, adding a prayer-like tone (eg ‘May you…’ in front of the phrases, such as ‘may the light land on your water bottle and make it shine’). Address yourself, or someone else in your piece. Play around, see what happens. Maybe a new poem will arrive…
Enjoy the sunlight, friends! ☀️
Gemma x
The event was the R.A.P Party, founded by Inua Ellams. Sophie Herxheimer’s wonderful book is Velkom to Inklandt: Poems in my grandmother's Inklisch and here’s a link to Jen Hadfield’s Almanacs. You can watch the lunar standstill this evening live from Stonehenge!
Writing with the Seasons is brought to you by Write & Shine. Summer artwork by Janeen Constantino.