A.F. Harrold's Blog

chrisriddellblog:

A library is many things

chrisriddellblog:

A.F. Harrold.

Chris doing what he does best - lending his voice to make a poem sing.

In this case a little bit of art-about-art, poem-about-poetry thing of mine. One I’ve always been rather fond of.

I often think of a Garrison Keillor piece, from his 1989 collection We Are Still Married. It’s called How To Write A Letter and begins: ‘We shy persons need to write a letter every now and then, or else we’ll dry up and blow away’.
It ends: 'Probably your friend will put your letter away, and it’ll be read again a few years from now – and it will improve with age. And forty years from now, your friend’s grandkids will dig it out of the attic and read it, a sweet and precious relic of the ancient eighties that gives them a sudden clear glimpse of you and her and the world we old-timers knew. You will then have created an object of art. Your simple lines about where you went, who you saw, what they said, will speak to those children and they will feel in their hearts the humanity of our times.
You can’t pick up a phone and call the future and tell them about our times. You have to pick up a piece of paper.’

chrisriddellblog:

A.F. Harrold.

chrisriddellblog:

A.F. Harrold.

Good* advice, from me and Chris.

* Not necessarily actually good.

A long time ago, 2009 to be precise, I found myself in Australia as a guest of the Queensland Poetry Festival, spending a delightful few days absorbing the moisture, culture and sunlight of Brisbane.

This was recorded there…

chrisriddellblog:

A.F. Harrold

Music for an imaginary ballet:

The titan Eos, old rosy-fingered dawn, has forgotten what she came downstairs for. Spends sometime pottering in the kitchen, looking out the window, feeding the cats. Eventually goes back to bed and the whole of mankind (mostly off-stage) is left wondering why the day is so dark… was it something they said?

For the people who like this sort of thing, here’s a brand new album
of instrumental and unnecessary dancing, dining and distracting music,
made by me, with a cover image by Dolly Dolly.

It’s free to listen to, cheap to buy and mostly harmless to stick in your ears.

chrisriddellblog:

A.F. Harrold

chrisriddellblog:

A.F. Harrold.