"Look at it this way"

A lovely poem... by Elizabeth Bishop. https://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/kmcneill/BISHOP.HTM The beach hisses like fat, On his left, a sheet of interrupting water comes and goes and glazes over his dark and brittle feet. He runs, he runs straight through it, watching his toes.   -- Watching, rather, the spaces of sand between them, where (no detail too small) the Atlantic drains  rapidly backwards and downwards. As he runs, he stares at the dragging grains.

The Places of Poetry website has launched today. I mentioned it earlier in the year when I first heard about it. It is collecting poems which are written about places, which can then be pinned to an interactive map. Click the menu icon top right on the home page for all the details and to add your own poem. Read about the project on the OS blog here.  There is a link with the Ordnance Survey. The project has been developed by Paul Farley and Professor Andrew McRae, who says: “Poetry has been used across the centuries to reflect on places and their histories. We’re using modern technology to reinvigorate this model, and we hope that as many people as possible get involved. We are excited to see where people pin their poems, and what they say about the places that matter to them.” I went on this morning and added my own poem to the map. You can view and read it here, just outside of the city of Ely. My poem also has a link to the Ordnance Survey, as it describes the s...

I have worked in the Fenland city of Ely for the last six years - commuting in all weathers and at all times through the Norfolk and Cambridgeshire Fens... Edward Storey has died at the age of 88. He was a chronicler of the Fens: an author and poet. There was a lovely piece on Edward on BBC Radio Norfolk that I heard yesterday on the way home, which described him as 'a poet of place'. You walk the roof of the world here. Only the clouds are higher And they are not permanent. Trees are too distant for the wind to reach And mountains hide below the horizon. The wind labours through reed As though they were the final barrier. Houses and farms cling like crustations To the black hull of the earth. Here, you must walk with yourself, Or share the spirits of forgotten ages. Keith Skipper has written a lovely piece in the EDP. More to come on Edward in a future blog post.... Image: Alan Parkinson - Fens near Manea - CC licensed

Haiku Sheet to Print

Looking forward to the new Simon Armitage book on the Pennine Way... One for the lessons on the Peak District in 'Look at it this Way'.

If you live within reasonable travelling distance of the Peak District, you might be interested in a poetry / geography / history event being organised by my friend Rob Hindle. Blitz A descent in the traces of the first bombing raid on Sheffield, 12 December 1940 Longbarrow Press invites you to join Rob Hindle on a walk in the traces of the Blitz: Sunday 12 December Meet at 1.30pm prompt on Platform A, Sheffield Bus Interchange The walk will start on Hathersage Road near the village of Dore at 2.30pm Total distance approximately 6 miles. There is an opportunity to join the walk at Cafe #9 in Nether Edge (see below) at 4pm. The walk from this point is a little under 3 miles. For the 70th anniversary of the Sheffield Blitz, Rob Hindle has devised a poetry walk that will illuminate the attack on the city by German bombers on 12 December 1940. The journey will begin at Dore Moor and end in Fitzalan Square (Sheffield City Centre), with Rob reading and discussing poems th...

The latest issue of Teaching Geography is now available to download by those who subscribe to it.... It features a range of inspirational articles on the theme of place by Mark Jones, Eleanor Rawling, Becky Kitchen, Margaret Roberts and others... Articles range from a teacher visit to Greenland, to the urban re-branding and renaissance of Scarborough... To add a subscription to your GA membership, or to join (and gain access to the last five years of journals in electronic format) click the JOIN THE GA link. PLACE is a big theme in Look at it this Way, and the ideas in this journal could feed in to several of the lessons. Exploring landscapes through poetry is a great way to draw students in, and Mark Jones has provided some thoughtful analysis on this particular tool...

An A-Z of coastal landscape features thanks to Mark Cowan's new poem. An A-Z of Coasts terms View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: geography coasts ) Don't forget the book is available to buy from the GA shop.