Islands on paper
Ric Hool's islands continues to be the backdrop to his thoughts and ideas. These manifest themselves into his poetry and writing - 'islands of thought on paper'.
"I was born to islands... islands, stepping stones, magical and uncertain.
St Mary's Island when I was seven or eight... seals that turned out to be scuba divers. That didn't matter... the possibility of the ordinary becoming fantastic lit my young mind.
At nine or ten to Holy Island, further up the Northumberland coast. Wildly fighting the ghosts of Vikings... the foreshore screaming against the turning tide.
It was easy to be a hero on an island. Only heroes live on islands...
Islands, magnets of loneliness. An island is a place and an idea of another place.
12 going on 13, enter... Mr Love... English teacher. One year... one blessed year with Mr Love. "Make your thoughts of islands on paper," he said. He was talking poetry. A life stepped upon islands; R.L. Stevenson, Treasure Island... Thomas Moore, Utopia.
On a wobbly path to Wales, where I teach.
Occasionally, and with some regret, I correct maps drawn by children who have the river Wye boldly extended northward in blue joining it to the Dee Estuary, effectively making Wales an island. As a geographer I point out that Wales is not an island but could be if global warming continues to raise sea level. Then, and quickly, as a teacher of creative writing I ask:
"What do you think it would be like to live on island Wales?"
The Geography is soon up its creek without a paddle. New jewellery to be made after the bracelets of those isles of Northumberland.
A necklace of Welsh stone ...Steephom, Flathom, Caldy, Skokhom, Skomer, Ramsey, Cardigan, Bardsey, Ynys Môn... "
Ric Hool
