Nighttime on Still Waters

Call of Wild Geese

September 26, 2021 Richard Goode Episode 47
Nighttime on Still Waters
Call of Wild Geese
Would you like to support the podcast?
'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters
Starting at $3/month
Support
Show Notes Chapter Markers

These are the mornings of mist that ring with the call of geese. What is it about catching sight of the flight of geese and hearing their wind-borne calls that evokes such  feelings restless longing and yearning within us? And yearning for what? We listen to the words of Wendell Berry, BB, David Whyte and Mary Oliver to find ways to capture those powerful emotions. 

Journal entry:

“24th September, Friday

A tangle of Victorian girders
 Russet brown; a lacy filigree 
 of metal, rivets, and musty glass. 

Anti-pigeon spikes 
Repel the reality in which we live.
 Willowherb smoke, rusty sidings, 
Bramble fountains – barbed and irrepressible. 

The sharp-edged wings of a gull, 
Outstretched, cruciform, alive.
 And my spirit rises with it, 
Soaring into the sunlight above the grime-streaked glass.”              

Episode Information

In this episode I discuss some of the ‘Little Grey Men’ books of the author BB (Denys Watkins-Pitchford). They are:

BB (1942) Little Grey Men reissued (2012) by Oxford University Press. 

BB (1948) Down the Bright Stream (later published as The Little Grey Men go Down the Bright Stream) also reissued (2001) by Oxford University Press. 

Wendell Berry’s poem ‘Listen!’ can be found in his (2018) volume, The Peace of Wild Things published by Penguin Books. 

David Whyte’s poem ‘The Journey’ has a number of publications but can be read in his (2018) David Whyte: Essentials published by Many Rivers Press. You can watch him talk about it and recite it here: The Journey

The two poems by Mary Oliver ‘Snow Geese’ and ‘Wild Geese’ are collected in her

Support the show

Become a 'Lock-Wheeler'
Would you like to support this podcast by becoming a 'lock-wheeler' for Nighttime on Still Waters? Find out more: 'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters.

Contact
For pictures of Erica and images related to the podcasts or to contact me, follow me on:

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at nighttimeonstillwaters@gmail.com or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message by clicking on the microphone icon.

For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters

You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.

Introduction
Journal entry
Welcome to NB Erica
News from the moorings
Cabin chat
Call of wild geese
'Listen!' by Wendell Berry
Heaven hounds in BB's 'Little Grey Men' books
'The Journey' by David Whyte
'Snow Geese' by Mary Oliver
'Wild Geese' by Mary Oliver
Signing off
Weather Log