Clay Wings: A Selection of Poems

By Rob Hadfield

All the poems in this book have something to contribute to the theme of its title, Clay Wings. The narratives of our lives are grounded in the earth, to life as it is and to things as they are. There is much to celebrate about the natural and social world in which we live and about its enfolding web of connections; there is also much to remind us of limitation, brokenness, failure, fragility, finitude, insecurity, neglect, pain, tragedy, and the unavoidability of loss in relation to the world and to each other. Our feet are set in the earth, in clay. Yet, human life has the potential for more than this; our responses to living carry the possibility of self-transcendence and transformation

Some of the poems speak of the earth and our quality as clay, others of the more that we can know that enables us to fly, and some include both possibilities, either explicitly or implicitly. They all come out of personal experience, yet experience that is accessible to other people.There are poems that try to capture the essence of an intensely felt present moment and others that relate to life as an extended narrative over time. Some have qualities of both, a present that seems to expand towards limitless horizons, and an extended experience of life that folds into an encapsulated moment of recognition. In sharing these poems, my hope is that readers will have an enhanced experience of the exquisiteness of their own being in the world, their own stories and their own sense of living with clay wings. (extracts from the Preface)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Dec 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781493129768

Rob Hadfield

Rob Hadfield has lived in Armidale since 1974. This city, set in the high country of the northern tablelands of NSW, has provided him with many opportunities, personally and professionally. The move to the country coincided with a move from school teaching (in Papua-New Guinea and Sydney) into psychological counselling, later finding its expression in tertiary teaching at Armidale College of Advanced Education and the University of New England. More recently he has developed a private counselling psychology practice in the city and worked as a counsellor at O’Connor Catholic College and, since 2006, at The Armidale School. Living ten kilometres from Armidale, Rob enjoys country life, his family, walking, cycling, music, literature, history and being outdoors in the garden. Overseas travel, with his wife Margaret, has been especially fruitful in broadening and deepening his experience of life. Poetry has long been a part of his personal engagement with experiences of all kinds, the search for meaning and understanding, and the acute sense of life itself in all its rich complexity and fragility. Rob’s life is grounded within a contemplative spirituality in the Christian tradition that also turns towards the social and natural world in all its confronting, concrete and specific realities. The diversity of Rob’s life experiences is reflected in the selection of poems for this book.

Book preview

Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Rob Hadfield.

ISBN:            Softcover                  978-1-4931-2975-1

                      eBook                        978-1-4931-2976-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 02/27/2014

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Contents

Preface

Introduction

A New England Morning

Dawn Walk

Sunrise At Chaelundi

The Loosening

Gulls

Surprise Package

Galahs

Beach Stones

A Simple And Ordinary Life

Bob

Beneree Memories

The Buttress

Eglwysbach

The Elusive Muse

Infusion And The Creative Moment

Industrial Revolution—Visiting Ironbridge Museums

The Work Of Human Hands (Visiting Waterford Crystal Factory)

The Showroom At Waterford

The Connemara, Ireland

When Time Stood Still—Christmas 1914

When Time Stood Still—Postscript

D-Day 1984

Teaching At Sogeri, 1971

Gently Hold The Moment

War, Famine, Terror, Climate Change And Coffee

The Nurse And The AIDS Patient

Cross-Over Girl: A Child In Therapy

Salvation Army Street Concert

Penny Stinkers At The Globe

Second Chance

Second Marriage

At St Martin’s, Eglwysbach, Wales

The Shop Assistant: Uncommon Courtesy In A London Op Shop

Mother Teresa’s Television Interview

Poems from Kolkata Sojourn:

Kolkata: Fragments From Broken Pavements

   Mother House: Early Morning Mass With The Sisters Of Charity, Kolkata

   Without Masks, Kalighat, Kolkata

   Ventolin In My Pocket

   Kolkata Epilogue: Challenge, Change And Hope

What Next!

Neuroscience On A Train Journey

Synchronicity And Grace

A Thin Place—Assisi

A Thin Place—Iona

Celtic Chapels—Lleyn Peninsula, Wales

Glendalough, Ireland

The Ruins Of Jerpoint Abbey, Ireland

Slea Head, Ireland

Skellig Michael

Gallarus Oratory, Dingle Peninsula, Ireland

The Memo

Shrine At Knock, Ireland

The Contemplative Journey: Turning And Returning

Talking With You

Easter-Tide Grace

Moment Of Grace

Glory In Clay

Via Dolorosa

Twelfth Station Of The Cross—Kincumber

Knife Edge

A Father’s Grief

After All These Years

To Be Or Not To Be

It Hurts Too Much To Cry

Joseph

The Perfecting

Thin Hyphen

Sensing Resurrection

The Fire Within

Author Profile

This book is dedicated to all those who, in living fully and

courageously, have influenced my life in ways that go beyond

words, yet in finding words through poetry, plant deep roots in my

heart. They keep me grounded in clay while encouraging me to use

the gift of wings to fly high just as they have done.

Preface

All the poems in this book have something to contribute to the theme of its title, Clay Wings. The narratives of our lives are grounded in the earth, to life as it is and to things as they are. There is much to celebrate about the natural and social world in which we live and about its enfolding web of connections; there is also much to remind us of limitation, brokenness, failure, fragility, finitude, insecurity, neglect, pain, tragedy, and the unavoidability of loss in relation to the world and to each other. Our feet are set in the earth, in clay. Yet, human life has the potential for more than this; our responses to living carry the possibility of self-transcendence and personal transformation. We are capable of connections characterised by awareness, concern, kindness, compassion, gentleness, gratitude, and love. This ‘more’ in human life finds its most profound expression in an awareness of the Divine Presence as ultimate reality, meeting us at the centre of ourselves and in the midst of life as it is; in both the depths and surfaces of life we can encounter Mystery and infinite grace. In these ways we have wings to fly.

Some of the poems speak of the earth and our quality as clay, others of ‘the more’ that we can know that enables us to fly, and some include both possibilities, either explicitly or implicitly. They all come out of personal experience, yet experience that is accessible to other people. Some themes are universal while others are more personal, though it is believed, not without resonances for others. There are poems that try to capture the essence of an intensely felt present moment and others that relate to life as an extended narrative over time. Some have qualities of both, a present that seems to expand towards limitless horizons, and an extended experience of life that folds into an encapsulated moment of recognition. In sharing these poems my hope is that readers will have an enhanced experience of the exquisiteness of their own being in the world, their own stories and their own sense of living with ‘clay wings’.

Increasingly over the years, the meanings of personal experience have been hammered out on the anvil of poetry and so a few words about this may be in order. With a few alterations, the following words are taken from an article, ‘Poetry, Being and Boundary’, published in the journal Eremos: Exploring Spirituality In Australia, May, 2011.

Earlier in my life I had written only spasmodically, yet during the past few years writing poetry has become important as a vehicle for articulating experience and as a way of registering the significance of certain events, whether or not these events seemed important from