This week copies of The Unwinding have been arriving in the homes of people who have pledged. I have yet to see a copy of The Silent Unwinding out there, but I have had many wonderful responses from readers, including a poem from Jennifer Yates. She says that it was an immediate response to the book, and I think it really rather wonderful that already it begins to form chain-links of creativity, rope-threads, streams for dreams.
And here are the words for an easier read:
The Unwinding Dream.
Sleep soft in dreams that bind
You to my soul,
Where nightingales sing
Sweet slumbering tunes
And everywhere dim lights
Pull day to a close.
Upon a bed of softest night
The moon gives off a perfect light;
It smooths the wrinkles of the day
And in the darkness shows the way,
It sprinkles light upon your face,
Bids welcome to that magic place.
Where peaceful rhythms rock your soul,
A special place where I feel whole,
Where each night I lay my head
And where a polar bear shares a bed.
And all around songbirds sing,
Softly touching wing on wing.
And in the corner of my dream,
Gently lapping from a stream,
A hare sits alert guarding my sleep
He waits, content the peace to keep
And happily contemplates a scene
That only happens in a dream.
Jennifer Yates
The books have gone out to homes,and some are working ther way in to schools and also into food banks for summer packs that are being gathered for children, and how very dreadful is it that there is even a need for such a thing, but also how wonderful that they can indeed be given. I hope some fall into hands where they might bring some peace of mind.
I'm still signing tip-in sheets for The Lost Spells, and also making films for various things. Folk by the Oak have a 'Family Nest Festival happening on 19th July. Part of this is a long film of me painting, and anyone who donates to the festival will be entered in to a draw to win the painting.
Ben and Beth have been working with John to write, read and record the audio book edition, which should go live on Audible soon, and we are hoping to bring it into the physical world with a new form of selling in autumn. And I am hoping to make the space to just draw, a large form image in line that can be printed on beautiful paper to be stretched and coloured in with crayon or watercolour, or inks or whatever...... perhaps limited edition, maybe not, but the audio book could be listened to while you unwind into colour and line and story, away from this world of cares and of worries.
My mum is sitting by the fire reading the book. She said the pictures are lovely. I said, well, you would say that and she replied 'I'm not saying that just because you are mine.....' Belonging. Family. My people are the people who create, who make, who love the life and the wild, especially newts. Not those who create a lockdown then make it a mockdown and put commerce before lives. 'Because you are mine'....... she also said earlier of it, 'Your dad would have liked that'.
How wonderful.
Tell me when your arrives.
Maybe this doesn't finish here, as it meanders out into other forms.
Maybe this is the beginning.
There's talk of a Christmas Special edition. I need to write another short piece to hide beneath the cover. The Song of the Birds. But remember, a book is for life, not just for Christmas. It becomes part of the maps of your mind and if lucky the geography of your soul.