‘Life as it can be, not as it should be’: at Stones Barn #2, 24/04/08, David Morley

April 24, 2008

‘Life as it can be, not as it should be’: at Stones Barn #2

Photo: Bewcastle Woodland

Clearly there is some magic at work at Stones Barn. Not the magic of human invention; more the natural magic of the ‘haunted air and gnomed mine’ of Keats’ Lamia – it is a place where the intersections between the humanised, controlled landscape meet our beforehand: where our history meets our pre-history. When the night arrives and strips itself of cloud-cover, the stars are a sudden glinting colander above you - there is no light pollution. As one of Maddy’s friends, Anette, pointed out to me, you can watch satellites in orbit from here - which we then did, during immaculate silence.

In a place like this, it is easier to begin believing in alternative universes when you are literally living in one such alternative universe, and can drive to the next one twenty miles away at the intersection to the M6. That is its purpose, Stones Barn, and a modest one – to take people out Singing at Stones Barn

of the lives for a short time, not for some holiday from their selves, but as holiday for their selves. Life as it can be, not as it should be – an alternative world which is familiar because it can be returned to, or turned to in the mind once the course is over. Participants learn poetry and music and return with these into their lives. As a poetry tutor I only have the Arvon Foundation’s experience to compare this with; and it is different in subtle and interesting ways.

David Morley : 24 Apr 2008 09:00 | Tags: Poetry Prose The Practice Of Poetry | Comments (0) | Report a problem