life – poetry pamphlet
A stunning new poetry pamphlet - Life - has been published in collaboration with artist, Kim Major-George.
This project emerged when Steve Thorp met artist Kim Major-George at an art and design event in 2009. Immediately something sparked and this collection of poetry is the result. Life was written and compiled in celebration of Kim’s Age of Enlightenment sculptures and her Life of Buddha exhibition UK tour in 2009 and 2010.
Kim Major-George is usually known for her distinctive spiritual collagraphs. In 2009 she created three large scultured panels of the prophet Buddha. These powerful images are created using layer upon layer of paper covered with gesso and finally painted with acrylic.
This pamphlet by Steve Thorp is in two parts. The first, Questing, comprises poems reflecting on the dilemmas of our existence, the questions we ask and the places we sometimes turn. Part two, Wisdoms, has a surer intent. Inspired by small pieces of wisdom from Buddhist teachers, psychotherapists, surfers, poets and others, Wisdoms explores the steps we can make to embody ourselves in the world, rather than, more simply, just being a follower.
From: Questing:
Carnival
One day it will be illegal
To wear a grey suit and pontificate;
The legislature will be filled with
Young women in rainbow beanies
Singing out the statutes.
Men will attend parliament too,
But only if they wear a dress –
Not ceremonial, you understand,
But strictly worn in fun and to put
Them in touch with their feminine side.
There will be no election, selection,
De-selection or nomination,
There will be no parliament as such,
Just a simple, vaulted hall in every town
Where hustings can be held.
All can enter; at the door you’ll be
Welcomed by a smiling boy or girl
From year six at the local primary school
And given a book of poetry to read.
You can stay as long as you wish,
For there will be no terms of office -
You’ll be paid, not for the time you
Spend in the chamber, nor for the number
Of homes you have, but for how many
Smiles you evoke with your words.
Westminster will still stand – a
Heritage-site theme-park where the
General public can mingle with M.P.s
In the corridors and have their photo
taken with the Prime Minister of the day.
One day it will be illegal
To wear a grey suit and pontificate;
For when the world concerns itself only
With the colours of songs and laughter,
What will there be to legislate against?
From: Wisdoms
Consummate your life
Consummate your life.
Create the fate that you can love.
Few are left to the world -
the readers of stars and
weavers of dreams.
Inside each one of us is a
sweet nut – oily and delicate -
from which grows enigmas.
When the moon shines,
phantoms roam,
searching for lost memory.
Now callous prophets flounder
in shallow waters, invite us to
swallow their lucidity,
yet we keep hope alive,
diving into silver seas,
conjuring delicate radiances.
We whisper: Love magic and
all it promises; for though we are
lonely, still we will save you.
The acorn becomes the
tree you always knew you were,
and you have grown it.
(Wisdom inspired by Neitzsche quoted by Irvin D Yalom in ‘Staring at the sun’, 2008, Jossey Bass – and by James Hillman.)