A Path Through the Trees

I don't have to tell you that this is a good film. It has Tom Hanks in it.  The acting, of course, was incredible. The story was heartwarming and the character of Jeff was developed with enough subtle robot-learning realism to appease sci-fi buffs like yours truly.  Where it fell short was in the ending.  The whole film is very 'close'. Hanks is the only human apart from a girl in a short flashback and the unseen driver of a menacing car. This closeness is maintained throughout, all the way to the end.  The idea of life finding a way is a theme but it is not developed very far. The end sees Jeff and Goodyear going off into the sunset with nothing having changed. Apart from the loss of Finch.  I think  Craig Luck and Ivor Powell missed out on an opportunity to 'widen' the scope at the end.  I thought that the relationship between Finch (Hanks) and Goodyear (Seamus) was a metaphor for stewardship - stewardship of nature.  The apocalypse ...

"There is nothing better than saying nothing." - Ryokan Why do I read and write poems? Poetry, to me, is a nexus of opposites. It is where language (thought) and experience (reality) meet.  The worst thing to do is explain a poem.  In the same way as a joke is no longer funny if it is explained; it takes the epiphany of a realisation to elicit laughter and the epiphany of reflection to experience a poem.  A poem is a mirror.  If we don't see ourselves or some of our own experience in a poem, it falls flat. Bad poetry is just words.  Good poetry is words woven together to create a reflective surface that resonates .  Like a clear pool with hidden depths it is reflective on the surface but you can dive in - become immersed.  That is the goal.  Otherwise, why say anything at all?

This is a book that will change your writing.  Whether you need some kindling to warm the hearth of your ideas or a spark to reignite your forge, this book is a bellows of inspiration.  First You Write a Sentence will forever sit on my bookshelf reminding me to pick up my hammer and smithy words together with the most important ingredient; joy. After multiple reads and listens, I always take something new away.  The Audible audiobook narrated by Roy McMillan is particularly easy to listen to (Penguin).  This ease of listening is maintained even while the content finds uphill sections on the journey through the, usually difficult to navigate, terrain of grammar. The prose begins with a view of the valley you are going to travel across, complete with morning mist and promises of secret places revealed. A gentle downhill follows, taking you deeper into the craft of writing through Moran's unique perspective. You can hear the smiling of his eyes while you are...

Welcome to my Path Through the Trees.  Follow me if you like.  This blog is about words. Books and poems to be precise.  Enjoy!