Riverman Writing

Making a few notes this morning regarding life themes and what I term 'psychogeographical symbols' (i.e. Symbols personal to my own psychology). Boats came up, of course, and I began  annotating the heading - refuge, liminal, transitory etc.  This brought up the idea of the state of moving as liminal - between places and times. It's impossible to travel in space without also travelling in time, albeit one-way. I enjoy (conditions permitting) the moment of travel, the experience of the act of being in motion, transitory between locations. There is, for me, a feeling of interdimensionality, of being stood apart, suspended between the temporal and the spatial.  I often imagine being able to step away from the everyday world, out of reality, into another, very personal, dimension which, in my imagination, is a small, darkened space accessable only by me and apart from the world of everyday reality. There is nothing particularly remarkable within this space, nothing exciting a...

Trigger alert : Blatant virtue signalling. Only fair to warn you. The other day I sensibly realised I needed some milk and bread. I had a fiver left on a Tesco e-voucher sent to me by my brother and thought I'd walk up to Tesco in Hackney, brave the queue and buy some. Then my calm, inner self took control of the situation and said 'Fuckit mate - I'm going nuts from lack of stimulus. You need important stuff! Beer! And chocolate!' And just like that, my mission was clear. I hiked the half mile or so up into Hackney from Hackney Marshes by the river and duly queued in Tesco's car park. I didn't have long to wait as the queue was fairly short. Once inside, Covid avoidance measures are essential. Everyone keeps the allotted two metres outside, but inside things are a bit more cavalier and special tactics are required.  Years ago, like most people in the 70's I had a love affair with Kung Fu - when I wasn't at ballet class - and even now, over thirty years l...

Illustration by Maria Wright https://instagram.com/sugar.paper This was a little character note from this morning, intended for my 'Character Bible', but it suddenly turned into a mini-story! (Thank you to my niece, Maria, for the use of the above artwork!) Jenny She was a little taller than I. Tall, slim and jokey and wore a light cotton dress with a tiny floral print.  We were all workmates, not daters, so the atmosphere was light and informal. We had never danced together but, that night, danced as if we always had. We amazed ourselves, laughed, had fun – dodging between the other dancers, waltzing like we could read each other's minds. We were incapable of mistakes. Later, I realised the lead had passed between us every few seconds, one or the other taking it up or relinquishing it - instinctively, as the situation and the movement of the company changed. Later, we laughed about it, each expressing our amazement and surprise, Jenny saying afterwards “I've never danc...

If this Dark were the Ocean I'd be a Blue Whale diving to the cold embrace of the Architeuthis in the trench Past flailing frogmen gaping from fragile masks, sucking thin air  from thrift shop tanks In my wake the vacant fish flickering in fickle shoals Diving 'til the vibrant crashing shores are left for Silence and pursuing beams give up on all pursuit Until I cruise the grey basement of this numb, frigid sea in search of nameless wounds where Earth brings forth her molten fruit. Copyright Frank Riverman 2015