WRITING INSPIRED BY LANDSCAPE

  The Fenscapers first public reading had to be held online due to Covid restrictions but was an online success.  Invited by Fascinating Fens to read texts and poetry as part of the launch of our wonderful audio collection.   Read about the event here and click on this  link  to watch the event on YouTube.  Please find the texts read during the evening below: A Walk Around My Garden  by Barbara Grafton " Life is sometimes sad and often dull, but there are currants in the cake and here is one of them " - Nancy Mitford Part-way down our garden lies a unique mass burial of eight cattle and six horses - adult, immature, neonatal and unborn - mostly arranged nose-to-tail. They were discovered in a ditch during the archaeological dig prior to the building of our house on the “high lands” of the fen. They have been radiocarbon dated to 40 to 230 AD, the very Late Iron Age to mid Roman period. It is speculated that their buri...

  Photo taken at Madeleine’s Patch near Warboys: Visit  facebook.com/madeleinespatch Download and listen to our walking podcast - stories, poetry, short texts, music and sound.  It is a beautyiful collection of writing inspired by the Fens. Written and recorded by the Fenscapers, music composed and played by Chris Ellis, edited and put together by our own wonderful Colin Stevens.  It is a thing of listening beauty - but don't take my word for it: Listen here!

  God peered over their glasses. ‘Can I have a word please?’ Francis had known there would be repercussions. He swallowed the rising feeling of trepidation. But hadn't God delegated his authority – left the entire matter in Francis hands? It was all very well observing things from afar in Paradise. It was also all very well having 800 years of experience and the title of Patron Saint of Ecology and Animals but that didn't prepare anyone for a visit to Earth.   Glasgow 2021 to be precise.   Taking on the climate crisis that could end the world   - with a bunch of overworked, tired world leaders reeling from the shock of COVID, hosted in the country that voted for BREXIT to boot ( although Scots might disagree). God just hadn't realised the enormity of the task they'd assigned to him. Francis tightened the rope around his waist and hitched up his habit - mentally preparing himself   for God 's disappointment and the inevitable dressing down. He silent...

  Article from The Patron Saint Herald – 14 th October 2021   Crisis Talks at Earth Division of Patron Saints by Francis de Sales Photograph: Veronica   Today a crucial meeting was held above Rome to discuss the looming threat of a global environmental catastrophe on Earth, which could lead to the closure of the Earth Division of the Patron Saints Organisation.   Raphael the Archangel chaired the meeting to appoint the patron saint responsible for COP Summits.   The successful candidate will intercede with God on behalf of the COP Summit attendees. It is thought by many that whoever wins this prestigious post will be in a solid position to become Head of the Division, assuming they are successful in securing agreements with God that do save the planet.  Following the initial ballots, four very different patron saints made it through to the shortlist. Tipped as the favourites are Frances of Assisi and Kateri Tekakwitha who both hold ecolog...

  The first wet diamond drops to the ground. A light breeze shakes the branch and a whole shower of diamonds falls onto the leaf-laden soil, mulched and mellow. Sparkling rivulets momentarily form before seeping into the city below. Absorbed, the diamonds penetrate the damp dirt, soaking downwards towards minuscule towers and turrets. Castles and cathedrals of fungal eminence are connected by microscopic bridges and filamented walkways which span the miniature city. Darkness is no barrier, neither is humidity, and so the concealed structures curve and stretch around the scaffolding of roots above them. With the passing of time, the sparkling wetness dulls to mud, evaporates, condenses and falls again as wet diamonds in another place.  Janet Curtis Image: Matthew Schwartz from Unsplash Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

  The Platypus made her solitary and ponderous way through the universe laying her round eggs. She had no mate, although maybe there had once been one. Perhaps he was seeking her still as she wrote the story of their family that never was in the inky darkness of space and time. There were countless eggs, no eyes to see them except those of their mother, and she never once turned her head to look. All the Old Ones awoke to find the visible universe full of spheres. They had fallen asleep in an immense open space which was now either pleasantly or unpleasantly cluttered, depending on their point of view. Green had stirred first. It always did. Not that it knew it was predominately Green until it observed a new species, which it had partly created, evolve language and name colours. Green enjoyed sleeping less than the other Old Ones. Consciousness gifted time to observe, taste, listen, touch, absorb, and generally accumulate knowledge, all of which it kept silent about. Once Green...

That evening I log onto Facebook to post my fantastic gardening tip onto the village Facebook group. I'm pleasantly surprised to see that my neighbour has already posted a picture of me using the turkey baster.    I was right, she was impressed with my ingenious idea.    Her post is extremely popular with lots of likes and smiley laughing faces. It feels good to know that I have made so many people happy. I leave a comment thanking her for sharing my idea with the village and my phone pings all evening as people acknowledge my comment. Although I am somewhat baffled by some of the replies, particularly the ones about alternative uses for the baster, I have never felt so admired! I sleep badly. What time do the birds wake up? I hear their first calls before it's even light, so I haul myself out of bed, dress and hurry out into the garden.    As I round the corner as a flurry of wings greets me. The net curtains are still in place, but I can see evidence of w...