Tree of Life 2 - Neem Tree

In this session we looked at the significance of the Neem Tree in India (their tree of life) and all its remarkable properties:
In the villages of Rajasthan near Jodhpur, the Neem tree is still essential to daily life.

A large Neem tree usually stands in the centre of each village, providing shade and cool underneath its branches - it is said that the temperature under a Neem tree is always two or three degrees cooler than in any other shade.

'The tree is so crucial to life in this part of India that the Hindu villagers described how they worship it as a God, and told the story of Lord Krishna comparing himself as a God amongst men as the Neem tree is a God amongst trees'.

Here's poem written in the voice of the tree.

Neem Tree

Yvette

Hey!  Come on over

I’m just branching out.

Just wanted to shout

But then you would come

You’re always there

Plucking and preening

Arriving from thin air.

And YOU, down there, can stop

Nibbling my feet

How your little tails beat

Don’t bleat like that,

Where people are sat

Laughing, joking it all happens here

Good job I give cheer

With my cooling leaves

No-one needs to roll up their sleeves.

Just look at my leaves reflecting the midday sun

Allowing these folk to have fun

I can even heal their wounds

I’m proud to say

Just cured a fellow the other day.

Many hold me dear so just listen now

I’m standing here.

January 2012 Tree of Life

Our new series at The Haven in Hereford features the theme of "Tree Of life" which seems to be a universal symbol, although there are many different cultural interpretations of the same basic idea - that humans are rooted in the physical world and yearn upwards toward a spiritual connection. Seamus Heaney often writes about the links between the practical and the poetic; the mystical and the mundane; and that's probably what all these workshops are trying to achieve - a sense of the intrinsic poetry of life. 

 In the first session we looked at local connections and focused on the new pavement art in the Cathedral Close in Hereford.  It was inspired by the carol Jesus Christ the Apple Tree:

The tree of life my soul hath seen,
Laden with fruit and always green;
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the apple tree.

The work also refers to some lovely local apple varieties: 

Chorister Boy, Hereford Costard, St Lawrence, Ten Commandments, Gloria mundi, Shropshire Pippin and Bulmer’s Norman.

So we had to write about some of these wonderful names.  One writer managed to include them all and Chorister Boy proved very popular and Gloria Mundi became a faded actress.

Here's one variety, or is it a first fruit? 

Chorister Boy

Chorister boy, rosy red

Evangelical, but let it be said

A boy, like his apple’s namesake

Is not always crisp, alert and wide awake.

He has a core of the usual things

Experiences the torment and sadness

Lost freedom brings

Longs to break free from the skin of restraint

Longs to voice the occasional complaint

But outward display says a lot:

Uniform, hard, shiny, fresh

He is expected to be the best.

When the outer covering is torn away

And life is crunched and eaten away

A few pips and a core

Thrown aside and is no more

The music echoes in memory

Young voices soar!

  

Sonia 

Field of Light

At a recent workshop at The Haven, Hereford, we used the theme of "Lights" as our starting point. 

Bruce Munro’s Field of Light at the Holburne Museum, Bath. Winter 2011.

The seed for Bruce Munro's inspiration to create this artwork was planted nearly twenty years ago while travelling in Australia. He became transfixed by the way in which the barren dessert would burst into bloom after rainfall. Field of Light too lies dormant during the hours of day light, but when darkness falls the bulbs flower with gentle rhythms of light and patterns of colour.

 We thought that Bruce Munro's installation looked amazing and used the title as a starting point.

Field of Light

Flickering flames before my eyes

Make sure that the fire will not die

I’ll try with all my might to maintain this field of light

Dancing jewels upon the sea

Bouncing boats all afloat

Sunlight just right

I’ll try will all my might to maintain this field of light

The flowers stand in colourful perfusion

Giving the illusion

Of a carpet that can float away

Let it stay it’s my field of light

The stage is lit with pools of light, let’s hope the performers get it right and blossom in my field of light

Most of all, in the darkest times when the clock chimes

the midnight hour a New Year brings forth

the light and surrounds us all with the hope for the year to come.  This is my field of light.

Shining out above it all is the light that friendships bring and the happiness that begins all framed by those that care. That’s my real field of light.

Yvette Sutton 

Golden October

 

SEGMENTS is back!  Ledbury Poetry Festival has kindly given funding for 6 more monthly sessions and the next workshop will be on

MONDAY NOVEMBER 7th - as usual these sessions are free and open to all.

9.45am to 12 noon at Museum Resource & Learning Centre, Friars Street, Hereford. HR4 OAS.

Will the help of the wonderful MRLC staff we will have objects from the collection to inspire us, and as if that isn't enough, there will also be poetry and cake. As before there will be a theme for each stand-alone workshop and if Catherine can find the time (she is so very busy, as everyone with a proper job seems to be) she may come along to fill us in on the history and context of the objects after we've played with our imaginations.

So if you want a place please let me know as numbers will be limited.   New people are especially welcome. 

 

 

 A half day taster workshop will take place at the Haven in Hereford, 37 St Owen Street, Hereford, HR1 2JB.  Tel 01432 361061

FRIDAY 2nd DECEMBER  from 10am to 12.30 in The Rose Room.  £6 suggested donation. Open to all.

The theme will be "Lights" and we will have a mix of poems, quotations and music to start us off. (Yes, there will be cake too!)

If there is enough interest we will start a new series of writing workshops at the Haven starting late January 2012.

Please let me or The Haven know if you would like to reserve a place for 2nd December.   

Sally

 

Autumn Doggerel

Conkers only shine for a day

We pick them up as they fall and say

That’s a good one

Let’s gather up each day as it falls

Shine it on our sleeve and say

This is a good one

Some things only shine for a day

Before Time takes their gloss away

So gather ye conkers while ye may

sallygivertz@btinternet.com
www.healing-words.co.uk
http://sallygivertz.blogspot.com
01989 563370
07779 083510

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The September Issue

Creative Words for Wellbeing

Sally Givertz

This complementary therapy uses creative writing and creative thinking to help you to gain a stronger sense of identity and direction in your life.

HOW?

Through discussion of poems and prose, objects and pictures (chosen to suit your agenda) you can begin to see things differently, make new connections and enjoy freedom of expression.  This often leads to a renewed feeling of energy and excitement about life’s possibilities.

No great literary skills are needed and spelling and grammar aren’t important. But expressing yourself on paper is; the written word gives us time to think.

Speech is swift and rarely consciously considered. Writing can be considered, revised and sourced from a deeper level of the mind.

Typically writers will say:

“I don’t know where that came from.”

“I didn’t know I felt like that.”

  

In a session we will discuss writing, objects and pictures that are relevant to you.  We will choose these together but to start with I can give you plenty to work with.   Much of your own writing will probably be done between sessions once we have generated ideas between us. 

Ideally a session gives you time and space in which to think and to be yourself.

Creativity is an enjoyable and liberating process and although we don’t avoid the dark side of life we also focus on the light.   The skills you learn can be used between sessions and long afterwards.

  

A word about poetry

Those of us who work with poetry believe it can be a powerful and relevant force.  Both the reading and writing of poetry are creative acts and therefore transformational. It can help us to choose clarity over confusion and feel more powerful and focused.  It can offer us a fresh approach and new insights.  Poetry is a force to be reckoned with. 

“..the imaginative transformation of human life is the means by which we can most truly grasp and comprehend it”

Seamus Heaney - The Redress of Poetry

from Lies

 Jo Shapcott

 In reality, sheep are brave, enlightened

 and sassy. They are walking clouds

 and like clouds have forgotten

 how to jump. As lambs they knew.

 A

fter some years of running groups I am now focusing on working more with individuals.

I am a writer and complementary therapist working with creative writing and creative thinking to improve wellbeing.

For the past few years I have managed the springboard project for Ledbury Poetry Festival’s community programme; have had a long working association with Herefordshire Mind, Breast Cancer Haven in Hereford, and many other working partnerships.

I am a member of Lapidus, Arts and Health South West and The Poetry Society.

I practise at:

The Haven, 37 St Owen Street, Hereford, HR1 2JB

and

35 The Gresleys, Ross on Wye, HR9 5JN

Hourly rates - £35 Hereford   £30 Ross on Wye

Please get in touch if you'd like to know more. t 01989 563370  m.07779 083510

At the ancient pond

a frog plunges into

the sound of water

Basho (1644-1694)

(translator -  Sam Hamill)

A change of direction

As some of you already know I have decided to make some changes in the way I work. I have loved these last few years working with groups and meeting so many wonderful people but I now feel the need to regenerate. 

So from September I will be working with individuals - still offering creative writing and creative thinking as a way to personal development - but practising at home in Ross on Wye and in Hereford at the Haven building and elsewhere.


Please get in touch if you'd like to know more.

Sally

Summer 2011 

Creative Words @ the Haven July - Thoughts on Four

As this was a short four week series we got to thinking about the symbolism of the number four.  Our running themes emerged from T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets (just little snatches so our brains didn't explode); Seamus Heaney's Seeing Things (particularly the section called Squarings); Jo Shapcotts poems about quadrupeds - we all particularly enjoyed Lies which tell the Truth about Sheep. It's a joy. We also got swept away by the idea of rivers and the idea of opposites.  The picture below is of a rather drunken river god.  Part 3 of Four Quartets begins:  I don't know much about gods; but I think that the river is a strong brown god.

I brought in a variety of objects including a bell and dorje which symbolise (among other things) the male/female aspects of being. Rather nice to think that the voice of the feminine bell is the voice of Buddhah.
A couple of responses are shown below.


The Dorje and Bell

Pauline Apperley

Man makes his presence felt

The dorje shows he is the master

Muffled sound comes from her

He rants and she listens

He bursts into the room

She hovers in the doorway

Her bell-like voice is to be heard

He clangs above her.

  

His and Hers

Annie Booth

bell and dorje

cup and sword

yin and yang

feminine and male

key and yale

soft and hard

give and take

make or break

early or late

all one another

sister and brother

father and mother.

This is the beginning of Lies  by Jo Shapcott

 In reality, sheep are brave, enlightened

 and sassy. They are walking clouds

 and like clouds have forgotten

 how to jump. As lambs they knew.

So we can contemplate the idea that we knew a lot more useful stuff when we were young.

To end a quotation from the end of Four Quartets which has a satisfyingly oriental circularity.

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.