Stumblings

By Keith Ravenscroft

‘Better to have questions you can’t answer than answers you can’t question.’

The author describes these poems as ‘stumblings’ because they are stumbling attempts to understand what can seem beyond understanding. In his writing he confronts the issues that are inescapably a part of being human, as he sees them playing out in the maelstrom of his own life. He takes us into areas of desperation, confusion, even despair, but also of acceptance, fulfilment, ecstasy, obstinate faith, and above all of tender love.

The poems range widely through philosophical musings, urgent questioning about what it is to be human, irony, self-mockery, overwhelming passion – and always with an intensity that acknowledges that everything matters, everything has meaning if only we could decode it. And throughout this volume the writer attempts to comprehend and reach the elusive God who he believes in but fails so comprehensively to connect with as deeply as he longs to.

Any readers who are prepared to stumble with the writer on this poetic journey through life may find themselves in a place where they can at least begin to understand, accept, and even glory in their imperfect humanity as the writer does. And maybe hope to stumble into Grace, enlightened and affirmed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Dec 8, 2023
• ISBN: 9781398495784

Keith Ravenscroft

After a degree in English Literature at Cambridge, Keith Ravenscroft had a career as a writer and creative director in international advertising agencies. He moved gradually from atheism to faith in mid-life and is now an Anglican Lay Minister which involves teaching, preaching and leading worship. Keith has lived in Canada and Italy in the past, and his passions are music, philosophy, theology and Christian spirituality as expressed in poetry and mystical writings. Keith is married to Avril, who is a graphic artist and an Anglican Priest. They have four children and three grandchildren.

Book preview

About the Author

Keith Ravenscroft is married with four grown-up children and three grandchildren. He studied English Literature (with an admixture of Philosophy) at Cambridge University and then spent most of his working life as a writer and creative director in advertising agencies in the UK and North America.

From a position of hardline atheism, Keith gradually came to faith in his middle years and trained as a Lay Minister in the Church of England. He has been engaged in preaching, teaching, and leading worship since 2007.

He and his wife Avril, a graphic artist and now an Anglican priest, have worked together as well as lived together for many years and during that time have been residents in Canada and Italy, as well as in the UK.

Apart from music, Keith’s great passions are Philosophical Theology and Christian Spirituality as expressed within the writings of poets and mystics throughout the ages.

Dedication

These poems are dedicated

to my beloved Avril

who has loved and supported me

for so many years,

with grace and commitment

that go way beyond any words

with which I could even begin

to thank her.

Copyright Information ©

Keith Ravenscroft 2023

The right of Keith Ravenscroft to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398495753 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398495760 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781398495784 (ePub e-book)

ISBN 9781398495777 (Audiobook)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2023

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

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E14 5AA

Acknowledgment

A big thank you to my dear family who have always supported my efforts. I especially want to thank Reverends Rob Green and Sue Hawkins and Professor Robert Boyd for their encouragement and perceptiveness whenever I shared a thought with them.

Introduction

I’ve called this collection of poems Stumblings because that’s what they are. They are mainly attempts to ask and answer questions, confront confusions, hold onto hope, express joys, sorrows, pain, and above all love. A few of them are role plays, as I try to imagine what it would be like to be someone else – my great aunt locked in dementia or an abandoned lover in a mental meltdown for instance.

All of these poems were written with my dear family and some friends in mind, and always and preeminently to energise myself for new attempts to understand and accept what my life has brought me. So in all of them, I wrestle to come to terms with what it means even to exist, and I strive to comprehend the God I believe in, but whom I so consistently fail to connect with as deeply as I long to do.

I have always been a writer of one kind or another. But my writing of poetry seems to have been accelerated by two huge life events. The first is the sudden cataclysmic blindness of my beloved Avril. The second is the horror of the COVID pandemic. Both of these have caused me to question with new urgency, and yet to reaffirm, so much in life. The result is poems of anguish, of faith, of questions that seem to defy answering. But thankfully also poems of joy and fulfilment that ultimately overcome all doubt and despair.

I have no egotistical illusions about anything I have written, but for