Monday 23 November 2015

Beyond Your Wireless Dreams! on Saturday 28th November 2015


'Once upon a time and light-years away, there were 2 aliens in a travel shop..'




Stand up poetry, song and sci-fi with
Sarah de Nordwall
Bard and storyteller

Via Transylvania and Saskatchewan,
the BBC and the
House of Lords..

‘As relaxing as a head massage and as stimulating as a trip to a new planet!’
JP Theatre Director

Come and enjoy the poetry and stories and meet great people on Saturday 28th November
Mulled Wine at 7pm with the show starting at 7.30pm

You can buy your tickets here on Eventbrite
.

£15 only for a table seat.
£10 concessions available for students



for one night only at
Mount Street Jesuit Centre

‘Thank you for bringing us so much joy’ audience member

‘Chock full of treasures to feast my mind on!’
Journalist at the Times

‘I never cease to be affected by her mysterious ability
to release my creativity by sharing hers.’
Coach to Women in the Music Industry

To Book go to Eventbrite.com £15 for a table seat, booked in advance, £10 for concessions.
search under
Beyond Your Wireless Dreams! or just click here!
for more information call Sarah 07849 641 899

Mount Street Jesuit Centre
114 Mount St,
London W1K 3AY
Nearest tube Green Park

Looking forward to seeing you there and taking the journey home to the beginning and the end of time!

xx

Sarah


www.sarahdenordwall.com

Friday 13 November 2015

50 Poems for my 50th - A Beginner's Guide to Opening the World With Words!



It was a very exciting day when the book first arrived in June.. and then the 2nd edition in November!



It's great that people have been really enjoying it - from those who would not normally choose to read poetry to world class poets with amazing reputations such as Mimi Khalvati.

'It’s brilliant! I read the whole thing from cover to cover in a sitting… I just loved the way you put them together.. with the chatty bits in between. I could tell I was smiling as I read it! I loved it.'
Bernadette Barratt, Parish Secretary

One reader bought 20 to give as presents to all her friends for their birthdays in the coming year, saying that she couldn't think of anyone she knew that wouldn't be amused and inspired, so why not, since birthday cards cost about a third of a book!?

So, if you do want to buy one (or a few) you can find them on amazon, but if you prefer to support my publishers who are lovely people and have a great corporate culture (unlike some online giants one could mention) and who also pay the authors TWICE what amazon pays, then you can buy it here

Thanks so much to my delightful publishers, who helped me set up the Bardschool Press, (an imprint of Fast publishing). Without Pauline Tebbut and the wonderful Mr Potter (no less!) what would I have done? Check them out here.


Here are a few of the reviews and responses received so far. Thank you so much! I'm very glad it's bringing you joy.

'Sarah’s poetry is very original, full of surprises and beautiful images.

Reading it is like being perched on ‘Jacob’s ladder, pitched betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross’ to quote from Francis Thompson.
Her poetry can be mysterious, sad, funny or joyful – sometimes all in one poem. The book is a moving journey into inner space.'
Daphne Kilner – author



'Sarah's poetry opens up opportunities within me. Every time I read something that she has written, I feel inspired to grab a pen and a piece of paper and just see what happens.

I especially love the way her poetry invites us into a dialogue. It's impossible for me to simply read her poems in a passive manner... every single one of her poems is an invitation to join in the adventure.
Helen Munt - singer song-writer




'This book is a glittering treasure chest.
I can't imagine it would be possible to read it through and not have your heart profoundly touched by something, or have your mind opened to something new.'

Claire Barrie, graphic designer





“50 poems for My 50th by Sarah de Nordwall (Bardschool Press £9.99)

Spirited, provocative, tender and personal, these poems by the founder of the Bard School are a delight, reminding those with jaded appetites that the world is full of wonder and the task of poetry is to open our eyes to the mysterious beauty surrounding us.

Composed after visiting places as far apart as Nova Scotia, a Croatian island an ultra-orthodox Jerusalem, these zany yet insightful lysrics are a constant invitation to leave one’s treadmill and celebrate the imaginative and spiritual life within.”
the Catholic Herald July 31st 2015 – Francis Phillips, journalist and book reviewer



Thanks for reading, and do let me know which poems take you on a journey.. many people love the retelling of the Hermit Story.. but favourites seem to be 'I,Caterpillar', 'the Universe was not at Home', 'A Black Sheep ate my Business Notes' and the poems about Shabbat. It's been great to see the guests in the Day Centre for the homeless in Bracknall, enjoying reading them and producing their own poetic responses and later emailing them to me. That is what it's all about!

Warrior




In Asia, warriors do calligraphy.

They know that beauty

Is an act of war.


A great assault against

the darkness of

impenetrability


Against the chaos

And the tearing of the word.


And here in Europe, also

When the spiritual warriors

Held the quill


And with each stroke

Marked out the place

Where Light could dwell


We feel the focus of the human heart

With laser reverence

Marking out the path.





Sarah de Nordwall October 28th 2015

Kintsukuroi



Kintsukuroi -

"to repair with gold" the art of repairing pottery with gold or silver lacquer and understanding that the piece is more beautiful for having been broken



I look back at the pictures of times

taken when we thought

that all was well

between us.


I try to re-enter the moment

Like Alice climbing inside

The doll’s house of the past.


But I do not fit.

I am tall with the present

Made large and clumsy by

A stature of too much knowing.



Would I wish to return?

To shrink down again

To the size of unknowing

and walk again by the round pond



Captured there on a wild day

Sparkling white on granite waves

Like a sea in turmoil.



No longer a park but a landscape.


The elements seemed to know.


And I rebel

Reverse on my nostalgic exercise

Remove myself from the scene

Where entry is so rightly barred.


The photograph deceives.

This moment is no longer in existence

And the person who encountered it

Is absolutely changed.


I valued and honoured everything

You gave me.


You took a machine gun to the life we led

But all the shrapnel,

falling from a brightening sky

I hold in my hand


And find it mended

By the light


Each piece miraculously sewn by

mercy


mine

and given by a gift Divine


I find has held the pieces fast


No longer old

This shape ceramic

here repaired by gold

Is Kintsukuroi


Now more beautiful

And open to the future

And the sky.





Sarah de Nordwall. 11th October 2015


Pattern of Constancy



There are some people who make mosaics out of lifetimes.


It’s not the simple elemental effect

Of a magnet

Under a page of iron filings

Making a pattern like magic out of chaos

With the power of the pull.


It’s more conscious


Careful


Decided.


They’ve seen the potential in the fragments

And they haven’t run.


They’ve seen the beauty in the fractured colours

And they’ve set to work.


But not without permission;

This is freedom.


The small exquisite pieces one by one

Are taken from the dragon hoard

Where stealth and sloth had piled up wealth

Without a greater purpose


And instead

They’re having fun

And so are you,


Outdoors and far from the lonely mountain

Where the story had begun.


And now Fidelity with her listening ear

And Grace with her extravagant hues


Are teaching you to use

each element

That fell into forgetfulness


Until, the muse at work,

her sisters come

And bring their brothers,

Boldness and Redress

To make the vision larger than it dared.

And bring new life and glory from the Yes.


Each masterpiece will find its pair

Each form its purpose, free from fear.


And in the making

As we build

Our joy and lives breathe

Love fulfilled.



Sarah de Nordwall June 25th 2015