Today's poet

[freckle]

Yesterday I spent the windiest day in the world on a snow-like sandy beach with people I love, making footprints in the drifts and watching them be smoothed and vanished. We might never have been there, except that we know it.

Now, when it snows in the spring I'm going to take a cold sunny bucket and make sandcastles in the whiteness, and between then and now I may even get round to a little poem about it.

i am looking forward to the poem mud......

[Harry H Howgill]

a bigger one than me!!!

ha ha.....I don't doubt that for a second.

[Hes]

Ok guys, I do hope this isn't too awful. I'd have liked to have gone running today and written about that but instead I had a class of eight people, mostly artists but two total beginners and one of them (the only guy in the class) made the most beautiful sensitive print:

The print class

You sit before me nervous,
Say you are no good at art
You can’t draw a straight line
You don’t know where to start.

I give you tools, I give you card
I tell you what I know
I show you what I love to do
I watch your interest grow.

You take the knife and make a cut
Your brow is deeply creased
With concentration, dedication
Creativity’s released.

I pass the inks, you wipe the plate
I watch in quiet pride
You soak the paper, set the press
The bed begins to glide.

You roll it through, I raise the felts
Your nerves are fast returning
You lift the plate, we hold our breaths
The anticipation burning.

The plate is up, the print revealed
The image crisp and true
Your turn to me with widening grin
I’m feel so pleased for you.

The class crowds round, they cheer and clap,
You thank me more and more
Its down to you, you hold the key,
I just unlock the door.

[freckle]

What makes you smile, what makes you happy,
Wind, rain, sunshine, snow, whatever,
Keep going till your days end
Love to run, love to cycle, love being outdoors, gives me clarity of mind, which is more than this forum does

love it merry

[freckle]

Ok guys, I do hope this isn't too awful. I'd have liked to have gone running today and written about that but instead I had a class of eight people, mostly artists but two total beginners and one of them (the only guy in the class) made the most beautiful sensitive print:

The print class

You sit before me nervous,
Say you are no good at art
You can’t draw a straight line
You don’t know where to start.

I give you tools, I give you card
I tell you what I know
I show you what I love to do
I watch your interest grow.

You take the knife and make a cut
Your brow is deeply creased
With concentration, dedication
Creativity’s released.

I pass the inks, you wipe the plate
I watch in quiet pride
You soak the paper, set the press
The bed begins to glide.

You roll it through, I raise the felts
Your nerves are fast returning
You lift the plate, we hold our breaths
The anticipation burning.

The plate is up, the print revealed
The image crisp and true
Your turn to me with widening grin
I’m feel so pleased for you.

The class crowds round, they cheer and clap,
You thank me more and more
Its down to you, you hold the key,
I just unlock the door.

How lovely and what an inspiring day you have had! to facilitate creativity in another is such a gift, you should be proud of yersel Hes

[Harry H Howgill]

Ok guys, I do hope this isn't too awful. I'd have liked to have gone running today and written about that but instead I had a class of eight people, mostly artists but two total beginners and one of them (the only guy in the class) made the most beautiful sensitive print:

The print class

You sit before me nervous,
Say you are no good at art
You can’t draw a straight line
You don’t know where to start.

I give you tools, I give you card
I tell you what I know
I show you what I love to do
I watch your interest grow.

You take the knife and make a cut
Your brow is deeply creased
With concentration, dedication
Creativity’s released.

I pass the inks, you wipe the plate
I watch in quiet pride
You soak the paper, set the press
The bed begins to glide.

You roll it through, I raise the felts
Your nerves are fast returning
You lift the plate, we hold our breaths
The anticipation burning.

The plate is up, the print revealed
The image crisp and true
Your turn to me with widening grin
I’m feel so pleased for you.

The class crowds round, they cheer and clap,
You thank me more and more
Its down to you, you hold the key,
I just unlock the door.

I know there is a lot of positive feeling on this thread, and praise is a plenty, but you must believe me when I say that is genuinely lovely. And pretty swift too. Rhyming stuff takes me ages.

I bet they had a great day they'll remenber for a long time.

I also understand a little more about printmaking, so when you said the other day that you were off to make the plates for your newt piece, you weren't about to set off making pottery like I thought!

[Hes]

you are too kind Freckle....I managed to get a typo in but nevermind...it is a bit cheesy but poetry is damn hard and I find writing about mud and nature easier. Going to look for some stuff by the professionals now.

[freckle]

you are too kind Freckle....I managed to get a typo in but nevermind...it is a bit cheesy but poetry is damn hard and I find writing about mud and nature easier. Going to look for some stuff by the professionals now.

I have been making typos all day!!!!!!! still doin the flaming ironing so back in a bit to peruse

[Hes]

I know there is a lot of positive feeling on this thread, and praise is a plenty, but you must believe me when I say that is genuinely lovely. And pretty swift too. Rhyming stuff takes me ages.

I bet they had a great day they'll remenber for a long time.

Thanks HHH

I also understand a little more about printmaking, so when you said the other day that you were off to make the plates for your newt piece, you weren't about to set off making pottery like I thought!

I've said it before but you do make me laugh!

[Harry H Howgill]

I've been thinking about the spirit of fell running theme, so I trawled through a thread or two for some inspiration. All I've done is edited some lines slightly and added a couple of my own. By no means a finished piece - haven't really decided what form it might take really - but I thought you might like some of the comments, and even add some too. Take it and run with it.

The Spirit of Fellrunning

Just turning up at a race, paying a few quid, and running
Borrowing a pair of shoes off a stranger to race in
New races starting, old ones dying
Waiting for the hounds to come in before setting off
“Race you to the top of that hill and back lads”
Helping on a Bob Graham leg for someone you don’t know
Just being in the mountains.
It takes me back to beinga boy- just me and my dad
Giving it your all, getting covered in mud
At odds with a risk adverse society
Juniors disappearing, come back at 40
A desire to lose oneself in the hills – whether by design or not
It isn’t all about the racing – the racing has changed, the running hasn’t
Whether the sport grows, withers or dies – that doesn’t matter. All that matters is that the fells will always be there for those who appreciate them
A sense of place, of territory, or the connection between man and the land, the fact that you discover something new about the country, and yourself, each time you run.
Feeling naked amid your surroundings. Free from the world.
I can be on my monday morning meat wagon to Central London, close my eyes and see myself bounding over Green Gable
A tasty post-race, post-bath glass of Laphroig.
The welcoming attitude that all of you show to new members
Running solo in the hills. How can that not be free spirited?
The isolation, the beauty, the slightly bonkersness of it
Sometimes fast, sometimes slow; sometimes alone, sometimes with company.
No barriers for anyone who wants to take the sport up.
The people - competitors, organisers, supporters - are welcoming and friendly