Nights by firelight and owl song
Dec. 19, 2021

The Hill

As tonight’s full moon is shrouded by the fog that rolls down the hill and curls and drifts upon the water join us aboard the NB Erica as we fall once more in love with the commonplace and overlooked things. The hill may not be named, or even be awarded a contour of its own, but it nevertheless is the place of gentle and unremarkable miracles. 

Journal entry:

“17th December, Friday

It didn’t take long
     For those three years of growth
          To lie cut upon the ground.

Penny sniffs the torn and broken stems.
     I step over teasel heads
            Trodden into the mud. “

 

Episode Information

In this episode I read:

Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem ‘Pied Beauty’ from Poems and Prose published by Penguin Classics (1985).

Tim Hennen’s (2013) ‘What the Plants Say’ from his Darkness Sticks to Everything published by Copper Canyon Press. 

I also read a quotation from Arthur Machen’s (1924) The London Adventure: Or the art of wandering. Republished by Tartrus Press. 

Old Oak

"The ancient owl-chapelled oak harboured snug in its shallow dell, oceaned among nettles and badger earthed"

General Details

In the intro and the outro, Saint-Saen's The Swan is performed by Karr and Bernstein (1961) and available on CC at archive.org.

Two-stroke narrowboat engine recorded by 'James2nd' on the River Weaver, Cheshire. Uploaded to Freesound.org on 23rd June 2018. Creative Commons Licence. 

Piano and keyboard interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.

All other audio recorded on site. 

Contact
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I would love to hear from you. You can email me at nighttimeonstillwaters@gmail.com