cotswolds & cathedrals

Greetings, Poetry Persons, from Leafield near Charlbury, England--ie, a tiny place in a country about which you could say, as the Bard has Helena say, "Though she be but little, she is fierce." We are here to celebrate the milestone birthday of my English spouse, who be herself but little and also notably fierce (as well as funny and formidable and named Fiona).  

And if we are mentioning milestones, it is worth noting that Leafield near Charlbury is but 360 miles from St. Giles's Cathedral in Edinburgh (which is not much distance considering one would journey up the larger part of Great Britain to get there). This is important because on this first Friday of October, the Inklings are responding to Margaret's challenge to write a short-form poem in response to an image supplied by another Inkling.

I was the lucky recipient of three lovely photos from Margaret herself, and the one I chose is her shot of St. Giles from an epic recent trip to Scotland. It is distinctly man-made, compared to the other nature photos she offered, and I can't explain why this one spoke to me or why it said what I heard, but here it is--not at all apropos of Fiona's birthday!

All I can think to explain it is how many opportunities we are offered lately to consider "the greatest this ever" and "the most that in history" and the fact that I'm currently in a country that's reportedly going to hell while at home we're in a "golden age." Mhm. It feels a little inappropriate to use the undeniably beautiful vaulted ceiling of St. Giles's to comment in this way, but there it is. The poem wants what it wants!

That's all I have time for this evening, jet lag and all, but you can enjoy all the Inklings' images and responses by clicking the links below--and thanks to Matt Forrest Esenwine at Radio, Rhythm  and Rhyme for hosting us this week. If you missed his post last week (as I did) about poetry written by people who aren't supposed to be able to write poetry--"non-verbal" people with autism--go back and check it out!

Catherine @Reading to the Core
Molly Hogan @ Nix the Comfort Zone
Linda Mitchell @ A Word Edgewise
Mary Lee @ A(nother) Year of Reading
Margaret Simon @ Reflections on the Teche