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Tuesday, August 3

Cornfields and Chicken update!

Chicken update - Bev and Mabel continue to sit on eggs, very Contented. 12 days sitting so far out of 21 day incubation period!

As I took Freida for a morning walk up the lane it was lovely to see the cornfields glowing in the sunshine.

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The corn was so ripe and ready!

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We must have walked a few miles really – just ambling along the lane and walkways.

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It is always nice to be greeted by our neighbours!

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and meet the new arrivals!

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Each month, TATE ETC. publishes new poetry by leading poets such as John Burnside, Moniza Alvi, Adam Thorpe, Alice Oswald and David Harsent who respond to works from the Tate Collection.

The first poem to appear is John Burnside’s beautiful meditation on John Nash’s evocative wartime landscape The Cornfield 1918, currently on display at Tate Liverpool

johnnashcornfield

Cornfield

after John Nash

Nothing is as it was
in childhood, when we had to learn the names
of objects and colours,

and yet the eye can navigate a field,
loving the way a random stook of corn
is orphaned
- not by shadows; not by light -

but softly, like the tinder in a children’s
story-book, the stalled world raised to life
around a spark: that tenderness in presence,

pale as the flame a sniper waits to catch
across the yards of razor-wire and ditching;
thin as the light that falls from chapel doors,

so everything, it seems,
is resurrected;
not for a moment, not in the sway of the now,

but always,
as the evening we can see
is all the others, all of history:

the man climbing up from the tomb
in a mantle of sulphur,

the struck match whiting his hands
in a blister of light

42 comments:

  1. That painting is wonderful, the encapsulation of harvest. The poem, too, is gentle, hopeful. Lovely post!

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  2. I've always loved Nash's paintings. This one is wonderful. I was out last week taking photos of cornfields and it's just so much like the fields today. Gorgeous.

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  3. Wonderful post for the letter C. I love the cornfields and horses, and all the shots for that matter. Great narrative too.

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  4. Compelling post today, Denise. I can hardly wait to come and see what you see each day! Our cornfields are "as high as a elephant's eye" now and we'll soon be tucking into the local corn, instead of Californian corn.

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  5. Great post for the day, Denise, as always! Love all your photos and such a beautiful poem -- says it all! Hope your week is off to a great start!

    Sylvia

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  6. That poem is just the perfect touch to an already wonderful post - the foal is so sweet. Thanks for the day brightener!

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  7. Lovely pics Mrs N - one could almost believe it was summer! ;)

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  8. Beautiful country pictures, love the painting and the poem too. Lovely!!

    ABC Wednesday: C

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  9. The painting and the poem are really brilliant. Thanks for sharing.

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  10. oh the poem and the corn did make a fantastic Combination, Denise :)

    thanks for sharing :)

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  11. Fresh cornfields - how lovely apart from the hay fever.

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  12. Love the picture and the poem of the cornfield. You really live in a magical place Denise.

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  13. I love your neighbors and the new arrivals! Thanks for keeping us updated on Content Bev and Mabel!

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  14. The post is lovely, and I love poetry. What a nice C choice this week.

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  15. Love the poem.
    thanks for the chicken update.

    ROG, ABC Wednesday team

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  16. Beautiful post, - I can't decide which touches me most, - the lovely Nash picture or the wonderful appreciation expressed in the poem.

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  17. What a lovely cornfield. Love Eldritch

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  18. Wow Denise, this is great, I love the photo of the horses....

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  19. It's beautiful country you have out there.

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  20. Love the photos, the painting and the poem! great post for the week!

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  21. Beautiful photos Denise. Liverpool is only up the road from me - feel a trip to the Tate might be in order.

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  22. The cornfield looks wonderful :-)

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  23. Wonderful photos of the corn fields. They look lush and you can almost feel the breeze. Thanks for introducing me to John Nash's poem.


    Linda
    ABC Wednesday team

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  24. I meant to say John Burnside’s poem.


    Linda

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  25. fields of gold, as they say.

    beautiful post and images.

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  26. I felt like I was walking along by your side as I wandered through your photos. Something so soothing about a cornfield, isn't there?

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  27. Burnside's poem is reminiscent of Wilfred Owen in spots, Denise. I wonder if Nash was making a comment about the same topic back in 1918. An interesting commentary when you walk us through the same sad shires of today. What goes around, comes around and mother's continue to weep.

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  28. Seeing the cornfields make me long for the arrival of autumn, and all that it brings.

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  29. Beautiful corn and scenes from your walkabout. The painting and poem are superb -

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  30. I'm jealous you have cornfields and nature right at your doorstep. What wonderful scenery to enjoy while walking.

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  31. Harvest is a busy time but a very rewarding time for a farmer. We hope to have a field of malt barley this year; last year's crop was probably the worst in a long time.

    CJ xx

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  32. What a beautiful view you have. I love the the painting - very evocative.

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  33. Lovely photos... beautiful view, Denise. Beautiful poem. Congrats on your new arrivals -cute! :)

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  34. Lovely photos and paintings of the country landscape, the photos of the horses and wonderful poem by John Nash. Great post.

    Best wishes,
    Anna

    Anna's Cats

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  35. You live in such a beautiful place, Denise! Awesome Nature!

    Kisses from us.

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  36. Oh, how melancholy. But how beautiful that painting is!

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  37. A soft golden hazy set of pictures and a sad but hopeful poem. Your entries so often inspire.

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  38. I had never seen this painting before, it is absolutely beautiful.

    Thank you for sharing with us, and for the words too.

    GJ

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  39. You can't fool a Yorkshire girl -- I'm sure some of that corn is barley. The poem is thought provoking. I haven't seen it before. Need to read it a few more times to catch its full meaning. Interesting.

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  40. The fields are lovely. I have a question though: is it a UK thing to call any small grain 'corn'?

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Thank you for your comments, always nice to know somebody has taken the time to let me know what they think.