Andrew's View of the Week

I Must Go to the Sea

Posted on 02/08/2015 by Andrew Reynolds

I Must Go to the Sea

The machine has stopped.
The beams no longer batter the body.
The doctor has proclaimed
all is well.

Breathing in the fresh air
brings no relief
mind weighed down
with the weight of doubt.

There should be joy in this moment
There should be freedom in the wind
There should be …

But it won’t leave
That ghost, that specter
That word
That fear of return.

Happiness so far away
as far as the sea
Ship wrecked and marooned
The soul fights for survival

But the mind bends unwillingly to inaction
To hide
To wait
To long for rescue

Repair the ship
Run on the flowing tide
Once more to the power of the sea
and leave marooned that word,
that cancer.

This is one of the poems I wrote for my poetry book and wanted to share it with you. I am over half way done on my writing project. So far I’ve written 24 poems plus some other stuff. There are 14 poems left on my list to write.

The prompt for this poem was, ‘depression after treatment.’ According to my doctor about 80 percent of all post treatment cancer patients get some form of depression (from mild to clinical). The other inspiration was John Masefield’s poem, Sea Fever. I expect many of you will know the first two lines:
I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;

It’s a poem I often think of in moments when my strength is ebbing and I need a bit of a boost – there is a power in the sea, a power to heal, a power to strengthen and a power to lift us out of ourselves.
Till next week,
Andrew

Posted in Poems, Prostate Cancer | Tagged poem, Poetry, Prostate Cancer, prostate cancer poem | 5 Comments

Skyline Ridge Hike

Posted on 02/07/2015 by Andrew Reynolds

I am playing around with some video making. Here is a video of a hike Heather and I did a couple of weeks ago. You never really get done with something like this – you just stopped editing and post what you’ve got. Next time I hope to have better quality in all this.

Posted in Hiking, Videos | Tagged hiking, Skyline Ridge open space preserve, video | 4 Comments

Wednesday Woodworking – heart marquetry

Posted on 02/04/2015 by Andrew Reynolds

I haven’t had much time for wood working but I managed to make some progress on the marquetry for my heart-shaped box. The basic pieces are cut. The next step is a bit of sand shading and then I’ll glue it to the box. Here’s what it looks like at the moment:

The cut marquetry. Next step is to glue it down

I am hoping to have the box done for next week.

If you need me – I’ll be in the shop,

Andrew

Posted in Marquetry, woodworking | Tagged Marquetry | Comments Off

Three Years

Posted on 02/01/2015 by Andrew Reynolds

Three years ago I was getting up every weekday morning at about 5:30 to get to the cancer clinic by 7:00 am for my radiation treatments.

It’s not an experience you easily forget. It gets burnt into your being. Every six months I still get a PSA test. Every six months I hold my breath for two days waiting for the result. It changes you. You fight to be back in the innocent time before treatment.

Only, there is no going back. The best you can do is push forward with what you have left and I am still writing these posts with the time I’ve been gifted.

Although lately, I’ve been devoting most of my writing energy for my poetry book so I won’t write much tonight. One of the things I’ve been doing for the book has been rereading some of my old posts. Some of these posts have poems I am revising and adding to the book, while others are source material for poems. A couple of days ago I came across this one, Two Years, that I wrote last January. I did something at the end of that post that I don’t normally do – predicted what I might do in the future.

Well, I thought I’d bring you up to date on a few of those things. First, I am changing how I write this blog and what I use it for. If you’ve been following me for a while you’ll see that I’m doing much more poetry and less long essays. That is likely to continue. I’ve done voice recordings for a couple of my poems. That will continue, and I hope to start doing some short videos soon as well.

Here is the list I wrote last year with updates:

Find a new energy source for my writing – poetry is the closest I come to a new energy source. There is just something about the poetic that gives my brain a different view and energy.

Do more marquetry work – well that hasn’t been happening but in the post I did give myself two years for this stuff. And I do have a new marquetry piece on the workbench.

Sell a piece of my work – did that. Donated one of my crosses to the church. It was sold at a silent auction for about $40. Okay, I didn’t get the money but it was bought. Today the lady who bought it asked if I was putting anything into the auction this year. I am – the mouse cheese boards (have six to donate).

Discover a way to retire early – still a work in progress. Still having problems with my financial adviser as he seems to think early retirement is age 62, while I am thinking – next spring?

Improve my health – well, um. Okay I’m still working on that.

Laugh more – I’d like to think I am, but likely my perspective on that might be a bit skewed and others might not notice my regular bursts of laughter. Perhaps if I laughed when people where around to hear it?

Stomp in more puddles – I would, if there were puddles, but in California we’re suffering from this epic drought and there just aren’t any puddles. Yes, I know, and you know, I meant the metaphorical puddles of engaging in childlike joys. Can we just put this on the ‘failed’ list and move on?

Fly a kite – Actually forgot about this one. That sounds like fun. If I do this one, would you give me partial credit for ‘stomping in puddles?’

Let me know.

Till next week,
Andrew